Abstract
This essay examines that due to right that users have to edit their social media profiles, there is becoming an increasingly amountof identity deception in the online space. It examines how users are able to portray a different online identity to how they are in the offline world. The construction of one’s identity will be explored through the profile itself, the posts that are shared and the images that are released. This will demonstrate that social media these day are making it almost convenient for users to use identity deception to appeal to a wider audience.
Introduction
Social networking sites also known as SNSs, have gained millions of users since being released and are now being integrated into so many user’s everyday lives (boyd, 2007). Participation in these SNSs is becoming increasingly somewhat compulsory among young adults in today’s society (Marwick & boyd, 2014, as cited in Hodkinson, 2015). According to boyd (2007) a social networking site is a “web-based service that allows individuals to; construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they have a connection and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.” Even though these sites are becoming increasingly popular and are being used all over the world by millions of people, are they being used for good?
SNSs such as Facebook and Instagram are some of the most popular and used sites, especially within the younger generation. These two sites give users the freedom and control over their accounts in order for them to post and share whatever they want through the site. This freedom refers to the personal information they choose to share or the particular images they want to post. Due to this huge amount of freedom and control, users are able to carefully pick and choose what they want to share with their audience no matter if it is true or false (boyd, 2007). This is what can lead to ‘identity deception’ which will be discussed further on. By users having the right to edit their online profile it can sometimes be hard to show their true identity due to the constructed environment. Even when consciously trying it would still be difficult for their true offline identity to be shown online as their profiles will be constructed in some way even if it is not intentional. According to the Cambridge diction, Identity is defined as “who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group that make them different from others and the reputation and characteristics of a person or organization that makes the public think about them in a particular way” (Identity, Cambridge English Dictionary, 2019). By having such freedom over what they are able to share with their audience, are they able to truly present their non-constructed, authentic offline identity or will their online identity always be shown as more appealing?
Identity Deception
Identity deception is hiding or changing one’s identity in order to be viewed or treated differently. Identity deception is something that is truly prevalent in the online world today (Donath & boyd, 2004). Due to the increase in the online world due to SNSs, identity deception is something that is becoming very popular. This is because it is much easier to achieve in the online space rather than in the offline world. In online platforms and communities, users have the ability to easily manipulate their presence in order to deceive their audience. This can be done by changing their name, posting highly edited photos of themselves or perhaps post photos of someone else and creating a friends list of people that have not actually meet them in person. This can create a large friends list which is very appealing to a potential follower but little do they know that all these friendships are weak ties and only know the online deceptive identity of the person (Donath & boyd, 2004). This allows the deceiver to be surrounded by people who truly believe in the presented identity as they don’t know anything about their true offline identity. Even though identity deception has only recently become a large topic of conversation due to the rise of the online space, it is something that has always be prevalent in the offline world. A true example of this are drag queens. Drag queens are people that represent themselves as a different gender. This involves a lot of world such as costuming, extensive makeup and sometimes even surgery (Donath, boyd, 2004). Even though this is much harder to achieve compared to the online space, it is something that is still commonly done.
Profile Construction
Most SNSs require users to make an account or a profile in order to be active on the site. These profiles are shown in user’s home pages and describes the characteristics of the users (boyd, 2007). They act as a space where they can showcase themselves in the online space. Most profiles require users to add personal information such as age, location, sex and interests (boyd, 2007). They also encourage users to publish a photograph which will be used as their display picture (boyd, 2007). Users, especially teenagers use their profiles to express aspects of their identity for others to see and interpret (boyd, 2007). The information that they choose to share is completely controlled by them and as mentioned previously this information can be true or false. By being able to edit the information provided on their profiles, allows them to consciously or even subconsciously constrict a different online persona (boyd, 2007). Most commonly, the construction of one’s online profile happens subconsciously and they believe that they are portraying their true selves online. Which is not normally the case. According to boyd (2007) users will unintentionally only show the positive sides of their personality and hide information that they believe will make them be viewed in a negative light. But as mentioned previously there are people who try to intentionally create a new identity in order to be viewed or treated differently. They can do this by changing their shown age on their profile or by adding an image of someone completely different in order for people to believe that that is how they look. There are many SNSs such as Instagram that have privacy features which allow users to restrict their followers or certain followers in particular to see personal information (boyd, 2007). As mentioned previously it is a lot harder to lie about certain information in real life than it is online. Although SNSs users are able to hide behind a screen and almost be anyone they want to be. Depending on the way users chose to portray themselves will differ how everyone views them online.
Image construction
Instagram is a photo oriented site, which allows users to construct their images just as much as they construct their accounts and profiles. Most people want their images online to show the best parts of themselves. Most users construct their images on purpose by using apps such as Face Tune which can change and correct the way someone looks in order to make them look more appealing or to look completely different. While some users might subconsciously construct their images, just by using specific lighting or an angle that looks better on them. Once again users can subconsciously construct their online identity just by picking specific images to post (boyd, 2007). When meeting someone we are normally able to get a sense of their personal identity though their behavior, clothes and facial expressions (boyd, 2007), but when looking at images of them online, we are not able to tell whether the clothes they are wearing have just been picked out for the photo or whether the facial expression is one that they make on a day to day basis. Most users might feel like they want to believe that another user online identity is one that is true to their true personal identity, but this might not always be the case.
Conclusion
In conclusion, SNSs allowing users to have more control over their online profiles and posts, creates a distrust within the environment. Due to the constructed and controlled environment that social media platforms are it makes it really common to see constructed identities, whether it have been consciously or subconsciously. It has been shown that it is difficult to create profiles that are not constructed in the slightest which demonstrates that SNSs are a place for people to showcase their best self.
REFERENCES
boyd, D. (2007). Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Learning Youth, Identity, and Digital Media Volume. Cambridge, MA.: MIT Press. Retrieved from http://www.danah.org/papers/WhyYouthHeart.pdf
Hodkinson, P. (2015) Bedrooms and Beyond: Youth, Identity and Privacy on Social Network Sites, New Media and Society, online before print, DOI: 10.1177/1461444815605454
Identity.Cambridge English Dictionary. (2019). Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/identity
Hey GRobinson,
Great paper, I really enjoyed reading it because I find this topic so interesting. I also wrote about Identity in Communities and Networks, it’s so crazy to think we have the control to make up these identities however we wish. Obviously, some people go further than others, but the majority of Instagram influencers promote this “ideal” lifestyle which involves expensive possessions, travel, and true love. Now we all compare our own account and personal life to these people… do you agree?
But what we need to remember when following these influencers is like you mentioned in your paper that they can pick and choose what they post on their accounts and realistically they are not going to post a picture of them crying or a pimple or them fighting with their partner so we only see the good stuff they share.
Here is a link to my paper if you want to check it out!
https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2019Curtin/2019/05/06/how-identity-can-be-deceived-in-the-virtual-community/
Hey TDelucia,
Yes, users have definitely now got in the habit of comparing themselves to everything they see on their feeds which is not positive nor healthy. Due to the unrealistic expectations that are set by these influencers who might have a whole team behind the creation of that one image, it can cause much more damage than good to their audience, such as mental health issues. What are your thoughts on this?
Hi there GRobinson,
Thanks for the great paper, I really enjoyed reading it. I thought the way you set up your paper, the use of headings and especially your thorough deconstruction of the meaning of identity really allowed the reader to know what your main points were and how they identified with your stream. Awesome job!
I completely agree that SNS are pretty much all constructed forms of identity, whether an influencer or a ‘regular’ person – we are all guilty of it. However, I personally believe that society in this day and age can see through these curated identities that have been created. I know when I look at a photo on Instagram for example, that it is probably edited, staged, etc. Do you think this is making society more skeptical of online users, and therefore making us less trustworthy of how people present themselves? Or do you think people believe that these identities they see online are truthful?
I look forward to hearing your response.
Alice
My conference paper if you want to check it out: https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2019Curtin/2019/05/05/web-2-0-effect-on-societys-engagement-with-activism/#comments
Hi AMcAuliffe,
Awesome question! YES, I definitely believe users are now becoming less trustworthy of what they see on their feeds. I believe users can understand how easy it is to edit or stage an image, which just creates a lack of trust between them all. It’s a shame that most things online these days are constructed in order to seem more appealing because it creates a ‘fakeness’ within the platform and makes it somewhat of a negative environment. Would you agree?
Hi GRobinson, your paper is an interesting look at identity deception online.
You highlight some important factors.
However, I have to disagree with your example of drag queens being identity deceivers, I think that you are attempting to show an extreme example of offline identity deception but, drag queens, by their very nature are overt. Drag queens are being very loud and clear about what they are doing (dressing in drag). I don’t think drag queens are trying to subtly trick or fool us that they are really something else. The way I understand it, identity deception online is about subtle ways of employing impression management techniques to provide a presentation of self that is inauthentic but that seems authentic. I’d be really interested in reading the article you refer to in your paragraph but I can’t seem to find the reference in your list (Donath, boyd, 2004).
Also, I like the way you mention image construction as a vital part of online self-presentation. So much emphasis is put on the images people use to present themselves online so it is worth noting that when discussing authenticity online.
I also look at identity deception online, as it is performed on LinkedIn. Head over and have a read.
https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2019Curtin/2019/04/30/linkedin-for-recruitment-no-thanks/
Hi Cesarina.F,
When I was discussing drag queens in the terms of identity deception I was using them as a clear example so people could some what relate it to the online world. Obviously identity deception in the offline world is completely different to the online world which I discuss further on in the paragraph. My point was not to compare drag queens and users online because obviously they both have different intentions when deceiving their identities but simply to just allow my readers to get a clear idea of what I was implying when I discussed identity deception.
Thanks for your feedback!
Hey GRobinson
I had a good time reading over your paper as it covered some angles on identity that I was also able to explore.
The first point of interest I had after reading your paper was the recency of a reference you used quite often throughout, which was Boyd (2007). I think finding a few more recent sources may of aided your argument further and given it a stronger scholarly backing. The first sentence of your introduction does a good job at introducing what social networking sites are, however with a quick look through the Curtin library, I was able to find something a bit more recent that could have been substituted in. “Social networking sites are a popular Internet-based technology that enable users to communicate and interact with each other,” (Akçayir, 2017). Let me know if you think something like this could have potentially been beneficial for your argument?
Another part of the paper I was very interested in was the image construction paragraph as it mentioned Instagram and the presentation of identity through photos, which were topics I explored. Some of the points you made were very accurate and also aligned with my argument, such as “most people want their images online to show the best parts of themselves.” I think this argument was a great way to begin the paragraph, but I also think the motivation and reasoning behind peoples desire to do this could have also been explored. For example, my paper delved into the emphasis on ‘likes’ and ‘follows’, and how these key functions serve as motivators for people to post only the best of themselves. Another paper I read explored the presence of influencers on Instagram and how these accounts pressure people into portraying a glorified lifestyle. I was curious to ask from your research, what do you think are the main motivators for users of social media to ‘show the best parts of themselves’?
A link to the quote I used can be found below.
Akçayir, G. (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.02.028
My paper covers a variety of the same topics, so if you are interested, the link can be found below.
https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2019Curtin/2019/05/04/the-functions-of-instagram-and-the-pressure-placed-on-users-to-produce-unrealistically-favourable-identities/
Hi MSljivic,
Thanks for the constructive criticism!
I definitely agree that I could have delved deeper into more scholarly based articles in order to find more information to back up my paper. I believe that quote is a great one yet I believe I covered that later on in the introduction what a social networking site actually was. I also agree with the motivation behind users posting particular images such as for likes and follows but I believe my main point of that paragraph was that users are able to create a constructed profile without even realising it and not specifically doing it for personal gain.
Hi GRobinson, this is a great paper on the online identities of social networking users!
I agree with your standpoint that it is so easy for people to create different personas online and I found it fascinating that you suggest that it is almost becoming somewhat compulsory to use SNS as these online platforms are so prevalent in society that it tends to be unusual if someone doesn’t have an account or profile on a social networking site.
I also think it is important to acknowledge the risks involving mental health issues as a result of these unrealistic online identities as users are surrounded by ‘ideal’ profiles that portray all sorts of stereotypical images or suggestions that people have ‘perfect lives’ when in reality, this is not true as people can specifically choose and manipulate what they post online to present themselves however they wish.
I still struggle to fathom why people are so determined to construct and display a ‘perfect’ identity online – do you have any ideas as to why this occurs so often on social media?
My paper explores a similar idea of identity construction and manipulation focusing on job-related SNS and how users create idealistic profiles on LinkedIn in hopes of making a good and professional first impression on potential employers. Feel free to have a read and let me know what you think!
https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2019Curtin/2019/05/05/the-inauthenticity-of-professional-self-presentation-in-online-profiles-and-the-effects-on-job-recruitment/
Hi EOwen,
Thanks for the comment! I appreciate the positive feedback.
In terms of discussing why users try to portray a ‘perfect’ lifestyle, I believe that it’s almost a trend. I’m definitely one that does try to only put positive things onto my feed because I don’t believe anyone wants to see anything negative when scrolling through Instagram. But I do think most people portray this amazing and perfect life online for the popularity. I believe people enjoy accounts that are more ‘perfect’ as it gives them things to aspire too, even though what they are aspiring to is most of the time constructed and not actually real.
Hi GRobinson!
As having written about identity deception myself I enjoyed your summarising style of the issue within the context of social networking sites and social media. I do however would like to pose a question to you and any others that happen to read this, as we often attribute online identity deception as one that is far more achievable and extreme than that offline or in real life, which I do agree with to a certain point. But, I have found that that it is often overlooked that identity in itself is a construction, even in real life, and that we are continuously building on ourselves to perform our identity through a number of means. With this being said, do you think that the deception or construction of identity that we often see online is merely an extension of this offline performance? Or do you think that online deception is inherently negative and misleading?
I look forward to your response!
Cheers,
Sophie
Hi SFielding,
I definitely agree with you on this one! Of course identity in itself whether its online or offline is some sort of construction. For example, when offline I don’t interact with my family or my work colleagues the same way I do with my close friends. You know how to act and portray yourself around different people but I don’t believe this to be ‘identity deception’ as I’m not trying to deceive my work colleagues but I am just aware about the environment I’m in and I act accordingly.
Hi GRobinson,
A thoroughly enjoyable paper to read through. I think it has become clear that social network sites has the potential to greatly enhance or change one’s own identity through the various affordances they provide. The issues can potentially lie in regards to how they enhance themselves. As mentioned in other comments, Instagram in particular, can definitely portray a moment of a so-called ‘perfect life,’ through an one-off image taken at some exotic location. Although it should be obvious that this does not represent their actual, offline lives, it can still demoralise viewers, who may be stuck alone and isolated in their rooms.
I do also believe the majority of us do generally try and only show the more positive aspects of their lives online, unless it is something serious, like a break-up announcement or genuine cry for help. This could be due to aspects like self-validation and approval from others, of whom are also trying to create a similar online image. After all, we all to some degree, seek some form of approval from others and the affordances of social networks can achieve this through likes, comments etc.
Anyway here is my conference paper if you are interested:
https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2019Curtin/2019/05/05/social-media-and-brexit-the-role-of-social-media-in-the-outcome-of-the-uks-eu-referendum/
Kind regards,
Stephen Yan
Hi GRobinson,
This paper was an interesting read for me because you refreshed my memory of some of the points around the issue of identity construction online, especially on social media.
I definitely agree that it has become practically expected to portray an online identity that is as close as possible to commonly held perceptions of what is ‘perfect’.
However, I also think that we essentially do the same thing offline. Throughout our offline interactions, I believe we constantly try to portray our ‘best selves’ as much as possible. The main difference is that we have less opportunity to filter our real-time reactions and micro behaviours that least help us show this best version of ourselves. What do you think about this?
On a related note, you mentioned in your paper the idea that people have a ‘true offline identity’ that is often incongruent with their online one. I think this perspective me be a bit outdated. Many of us do not behave exactly the same around the same groups of people (e.g. family, friends, work colleagues, university peers and teachers). We may exhibit some common traits among these different groups, but what do you think about the idea that offline identity is actually fragmented, and that the identity deception taking place online is more about trying to make it seem like this is not the case?
Lastly, I’d like to ask if you think there are situations when ‘identity deception’ may be beneficial? I discuss web accessibility issues for people with disability in my paper, and I mention how the fact that disability is not usually obvious to other users helps this group experience social interactions without the stigma of disability affecting how others interact with them online. If you’d like to look at my paper for more of an idea about this, you can find it here:
https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2019Curtin/2019/05/06/web-accessibility-issues-for-people-with-disability/
Sorry for writing so much, but I think the fact that your paper made me want to discuss all this is the mark of a good paper!
Looking forward to your reply!
Thanks,
Petra
Hi GRobinson,
I really enjoyed reading your paper. I like how you put your paper into different sections as it made it nice and clear and easy to read. One interesting part I thought you wrote was “SNSs is becoming increasingly somewhat compulsory among young adults in today’s society (Marwick & boyd, 2014, as cited in Hodkinson, 2015)”, this is very interesting as it is becoming very true with todays society. Do you think we are becoming a society where you get judged on whether or not you have social media account?
Very interested in your thoughts on this.
Again great paper!