{"id":114,"date":"2019-04-25T17:59:52","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T09:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/?p=114"},"modified":"2019-04-29T14:20:09","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T06:20:09","slug":"life-is-a-performance-facebook-self-representation-and-self-esteem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/2019\/04\/25\/life-is-a-performance-facebook-self-representation-and-self-esteem\/","title":{"rendered":"Life is a Performance: Facebook, Self-Representation and Self-Esteem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Life is a Performance – Facebook, Self-Representation and Self-Esteem<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis paper argues that idealistic self-presentations\non Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as Facebook risk damaging other users\u2019 self-esteem\nby portraying and disseminating unrealistic personas, ideals and lifestyles and\nthereby triggering upward social comparisons. Using the concept of identity as\na performance, as coined by Goffman (1959), this paper explores the\nopportunities for identity performance afforded by SNS such as Facebook through\ntheir architecture and design. Citing the research results reported in several peer-reviewed\narticles to support its argument, this paper also highlights the link between idealistic\nself-presentations, upward social comparisons on Facebook and negative impacts\non other users\u2019 self-esteem.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keywords:<\/strong> Social\nmedia, social networking sites, Facebook, self-esteem, depression, social\ncomparison<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life\nis a performance. As humans, during our face-to-face social interactions, we perform\nthe identities we construct for ourselves in an attempt to engage with our\npeers and gain their acceptance. Using various verbal and non-verbal cues, we\nadapt these identity performances according to our audience and social context\n\u2013 whether it be among family at home, friends at dinner, or colleagues in the\nworkplace. In comparison to the offline space, however, the online space affords\na much wider stage for identity performance to take place. Much like theatre\nactors playing a role, when we perform our identities online through SNS such\nas Facebook, we can choose to take on a persona and portray an ideal, mood or\nlifestyle that may differ greatly from our personal reality in an attempt to put\non our very best performance and win popularity with our audiences. These\nidealistic self-presentations on SNS, however, can trigger other users to make\nupward social comparisons, creating the assumption that their lives are less\nhappy and fulfilling than others\u2019 and damaging their self-esteem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Identity\nas a performance is not a new concept or one that is synonymous only with SNS\nsuch as Facebook. Indeed, as Goffman (1959) highlights (as cited in Pearson,\n2009, para 4), identity as a performance is an inherent part of human social\ninteraction. Much like theatrical performances, identity performances are not\nstatic, but fluid \u2013 we construct and perform our identities to adapt appropriately\nto our various audiences and social contexts. In comparison with face-to-face\nsocial interactions, however, the online space utilised by SNS such as Facebook affords\nusers greater ability to experiment with, control and mediate their performed\nidentities as well as the ability to eliminate physical non-verbal cues to present\nthemselves in a way which may greatly differ from their personal reality\n(Pearson, 2009). Indeed, Chou and Edge (2012) highlight that individuals tend\nto present themselves in a favourable light on their Facebook profile pages. With\nface-to-face interactions, people are restricted in their identity performances\nby the physical non-verbal cues that may reveal additional information concealed\nor conflicted by verbal cues. In contrast, however, with online interactions on\nFacebook, users are disembodied and removed from their physical non-verbal cues,\nallowing them the freedom to construct and perform any variety of identities\nthey wish to portray. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\npresenting themselves online on Facebook, users have a variety of tools and\ntechniques at their disposal to construct and perform their chosen identities.\nThese are provided by the affordances of the platform\u2019s architecture and design,\nand include the ability to choose and upload a desired profile photo and other images\na user wishes to share, the ability to search and traverse across the platform\nto include weak ties in addition to close ties to expand a user\u2019s \u2018Friends\u2019\nnetwork, and the ability to use \u2018Like\u2019s as a metric for popularity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\ntheir study of children aged 11-16 across three European countries, Mascheroni,\nVincent, and Jimenez (2015, p. 5) found that most children \u2013 both girls and\nboys \u2013 edited their profile photos on SNS platforms to portray themselves in an\nidealistic way rather than as their real-life selves. Moreover, although SNS\nusers may take multiple \u2018selfies\u2019 (a self-portrait image, typically captured\nwith a smartphone) over a given period, they are selective in which of these\nimages they choose to post to their profile pages (Wagner, Aguirre, &\nSummer, 2016, para 29). Furthermore, as Vogel, Rose, Roberts, and Eckles (2014,\np. 207) highlight, SNS such as Facebook also enable users to selectively upload\nto their profile pages a variety of images which portray themselves and their\nlives in a way which best represents how they wish to be portrayed \u2013 rather\nthan in a way which resembles their personal reality. Collectively, these\ncarefully selected images provide a vivid visual representation of a user\u2019s chosen\nperformed identity for others to view, further reinforcing and manifesting their\nconstructed, idealised identity in the minds of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\naddition to selectively uploading images consistent with their performed online\nidentities to their profile pages, Facebook users have the ability to not only\ndirectly search for weak ties via the site\u2019s search function, but also to\ntraverse the \u2018Friends\u2019 networks of other users to locate weak ties in an\nattempt to further expand their own \u2018Friends\u2019 network. While the ability to add\nweak ties to a Facebook user\u2019s social network provides the user with clear\nbenefits, such as the ability to maintain contact with people they may have\notherwise forgotten or lost contact with in the rapid and ever-changing pace of\neveryday life, it also presents the opportunity to make a user\u2019s social network\nappear much larger and more far-reaching than it is in reality. Weak ties \u2013 such\nas those with ex-colleagues and other distant connections \u2013 serve a positive function\nin information and support exchange and in creating a heterogenous social\nnetwork, but they lack the closeness, depth and intimacy of strong ties \u2013 such\nas those with family, close friends and romantic partners (Pearson, 2009). As Cummings\net al. (2000) argued (as cited in Baym, Zhang, Kunkel, Ledbetter, & Lin,\n2007, p. 737), relationships which are established and predominately maintained\nonline, as in the case of weak ties, are typically of lower quality than those\nestablished and predominately maintained offline, as in the case of strong\nties. Characterised by low time, effort and emotional investment, the arbitrary\ninclusion of weak ties in a Facebook user\u2019s \u2018Friends\u2019 network enables the user\nto convey a seemingly large and far-reaching social network of friends. Whereas\nface-to-face interactions do not typically present opportunities to elicit information\nabout an individual\u2019s social networks, Facebook explicitly allows users to elicit\ninformation about both the quantity and quality of people in a user\u2019s social\nnetwork (Vogel et al., 2014). As Chou and Edge (2012, p. 118) highlight, both\nthe quantity and the perceived attractiveness of a user\u2019s Facebook friends can\nbe construed by other users as a reflection of the user\u2019s popularity and\n\u201csocial attractiveness\u201d. Therefore, despite fostering in many cases predominately\nhigh-quantity, low-quality weak ties, Facebook users can utilise the affordances\nof the platform to convey to other users the impression of not only a seemingly\nlarge, but also a seemingly high-quality network of friends, further perpetuating\ntheir idealistic identities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally,\nFacebook users can utilise the platform\u2019s \u2018Like\u2019 function as a metric for their\npopularity and the popularity of other users. According to Chen and Lee (2013),\nat the end of 2011, Facebook users had collectively uploaded 250 million photos\nand clicked Facebook\u2019s \u2018Like\u2019 button 2.7 billion times each day. As well as\nproviding users with a way of expressing their agreement with or pleasure at\nanother user\u2019s post (text or image) and maintaining casual engagement with weak\nties, Facebook\u2019s \u2018Like\u2019 button also functions as a self-promotion tool (Chen\n& Lee, 2013). The more \u2018Like\u2019s a Facebook user accrues for their particular\npost, the more popular the post, and, moreover, they as a person, are perceived\nto be. Therefore, accumulating \u2018Like\u2019s on Facebook by posting selective content\ntailored to their perceived audience is another way for users to portray to\nothers an idealistic self-presentation that depicts themselves as being socially\npopular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nPearson (2009) highlights, Facebook users utilise and manipulate these tools\nand techniques afforded by Facebook\u2019s architecture and design to construct, convey\nand continuously revise their self-presentation, creating a \u201cconsensual social\nhallucination\u201d (Pearson, 2009, para 8). In addition, they can replicate the\nvirtual self they have presented on Facebook across multiple SNS platforms, further\nreinforcing and linking themselves back to their chosen performed, idealistic\nidentity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto Jan, Ahmad, and Soomro (2017, p. 336), approximately 88% of Facebook users made\nsocial comparisons on Facebook, with 98% of those comparisons being upward\nsocial comparisons. Likewise, Vogel et al. (2014) found that people on average\ntend to make more upward than downward social comparisons on Facebook. Upward\nsocial comparisons can be defined as the comparison an individual makes between\nthemselves and those they perceive as being superior to them and possessing\npositive attributes, while downward social comparisons can be defined as the\ncomparison an individual makes between themselves and those they perceive as\nbeing inferior to them and possessing negative attributes (Jan et al., 2017). Walther,\nVan Der Heide, Kim, Westerman, and Tong (as cited in Jan et al., 2017, p. 336) argued\nthe majority of Facebook users utilised the platform to find out what is happening\nin other people\u2019s lives, and judge other users based on the cues they present\non their profile pages. Moreover, Vogel et al. (2014) argue that one of the\nreasons individuals use SNS \u2013 whether consciously or unconsciously \u2013 is to\nprovide themselves with a basis upon which to make social comparisons when\nself-evaluating themselves. As Vogel et al. (2014) highlight, SNS such as\nFacebook provide the perfect platform for individuals to create seemingly flawless,\nidealistic self-presentations, enabling them to selectively post content and\nallow or delete content from other users to present themselves in a way which\nis consistent with their ideals and how they wish to be perceived, rather than\nin a way which is consistent with reality. This is in contrast to the offline\nspace, where individuals are not afforded the luxury of asynchronous time,\ndisembodiment, or \u2018delete\u2019 buttons to craft their identities in such a way. As\nChen and Lee (2013) highlight, those who use Facebook frequently are generally\nmore exposed to the idealistic, positive self-presentations of other users. Consequently,\nthey found frequent Facebook interaction is linked to psychological distress by\ncausing increased \u201ccommunication overload\u201d, feelings of \u201crelative deprivation\u201d,\nand reduced self-esteem (Chen & Lee, 2013, p. 728). Similarly, Jan et al.\n(2017) found that an increase in time spent on Facebook was directly linked to\na decrease in users\u2019 self-esteem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\nbelieved that humans have an innate drive to compare themselves to others, which\nfulfills their affiliation and self-evaluation needs (Vogel et al., 2014). But\nwhile upward social comparisons can be beneficial in providing inspiration for\nself-improvement, in most cases, it causes those making the comparisons to feel\ninadequate, \u201cnot good enough\u201d, and as though others\u2019 lives are happier than\ntheirs (Chou & Edge, 2012; Vogel et al., 2014). According to Festinger (as\ncited in Jan et al., 2017, p. 331-332), SNS users tend to make social\ncomparisons based on factors including perceived wealth, beauty, popularity and\nsocial class. With many Facebook users portraying idealistic self-presentations\nbased upon these and other social factors, this has led to frequent Facebook\nusers believing other users \u2013 especially those they do not know well offline \u2013\nare living happier and more fulfilling lives than themselves. Indeed, consistent\nwith previous research findings, Feinstein, Hershenberg, Bhatia, Latack, Meuwly,\nand Davila (2013, p. 167) found that social comparisons on Facebook were linked\nto depressive symptoms. Similarly, Vogel et al. (2014) highlight previous\nstudies showing high-frequency Facebook usage is linked to an increase in\ndepression and a decrease in well-being. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\nhumans, self-esteem serves as a fundamental method of self-evaluation. As Vogel\net al. (2014) highlight, self-esteem is associated with an individual\u2019s feelings\nof self-worthiness and competence, and, as such, also serves to position individuals\nin terms of their perceived social acceptance and to provide meaning to their\nlives. As well as being a stable state that develops over time, self-esteem is\nalso a fluid state, changing according to day-to-day situations and contexts\n(Vogel et al., 2014). With frequent, or even temporary exposure to cues from predominately\nidealistic self-presentations on Facebook \u2013 with its over 1.5 billion daily\nactive users worldwide (Facebook, 2018) \u2013 it can be argued that these saturated,\nidealistic self-presentations can trigger upward social comparisons in both individuals\nwith typically low and high self-esteem, consequently damaging their\nself-esteem (Vogel et al., 2014). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nis a clear fundamental flaw with making upward social comparisons on Facebook \u2013\nindividuals are comparing their realistic offline selves to the idealised\nonline selves of others (Vogel et al., 2014). It is no surprise, then, that\nVogel et al. (2014) found those exposed to upward social comparisons reported\ngreater discrepancies between their real and their ideal selves and poorer self-esteem\nthan when they were exposed to downward social comparisons. In addition, other flaws\nwith making upward social comparisons on Facebook include what Chou and Edge\n(2012, p. 117) describe as the \u201cavailability heuristic\u201d and \u201ccorrespondence\nbias\u201d. When making social comparisons, Facebook users tend to judge others\nbased on examples they can easily recall (the availability heuristic),\nespecially when their \u2018Friends\u2019 network is extensive and time-consuming to\nmanage. Since Facebook users tend to present themselves in an idealistic light,\nthose users making social comparisons are generally exposed to a seemingly\nendless stream of positive information, comments and images from their\n\u2018Friends\u2019 via their Facebook News Feed. With Facebook\u2019s News Feed providing\nsuch quick access to and such easily-digestible pieces of idealistic content\nfrom users\u2019 profile pages, it is easy for Facebook users to recall this idealistic\ncontent when forming an impression of others, often leading them to assume that\nothers are living happier lives than themselves (Chou & Edge, 2012). Additionally,\ncorrespondence bias refers to the tendency of individuals to assume that the\nwords and actions of others are reflective of their personality, rather than\nsubject to their situation (Chou & Edge, 2012). For example, when Facebook\nusers post photos depicting themselves as happy, those viewing the images tend\nto conclude that the person is inherently happy, without taking into\nconsideration the situational factors that made them appear happy in the\nphotos. Combined, the availability heuristic and correspondence bias serve to give\nFacebook users \u2013 especially frequent users and those with many \u2018Friends\u2019 they\ndo not know well personally offline (weak ties) \u2013 the impression that others\nare leading happier, more fulfilling lives than themselves, consequently\ndamaging their self-esteem. Indeed, Chou & Edge (2012, p. 117) found that those\nwho have been Facebook users for longer agreed more with the idea that others\nwere happier and less with the idea that \u201clife is fair\u201d, while those who spent\nmore time on Facebook each week and included more weak ties within their\nFacebook \u2018Friends\u2019 network also agreed more with the idea that others were\nhappier and had better lives than themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evidently,\nidealistic self-presentations on Facebook \u2013 with their prevalence,\npervasiveness, ease of access and flawed inconsistence with reality \u2013 risk\ndamaging self-esteem by portraying and disseminating unrealistic personas,\nideals and lifestyles and triggering upward social comparisons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Baym, N. K., Zhang, Y. B., Kunkel, A., Ledbetter, A.,\n& Lin, M. (2007). Relational Quality and Media Use in\nInterpersonal Relationships. New Media\n& Society<\/em>, 9<\/em>(5), pp. 735-752.\ndoi:10.1177\/1461444807080339<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chen, W., & Lee, K. H. (2013). Sharing,\nLiking, Commenting, and Distressed? The Pathway Between Facebook Interaction and\nPsychological Distress. Cyberpsychology,\nBehavior, and Social Networking, Vol.16<\/em>(10), pp. 728-734. doi:10.1089\/cyber.2012.0272<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chou,\nH-T. G., & Edge, N. (2012). \u2018\u2018They Are Happier and Having Better Lives than\nI Am\u2019\u2019: The Impact of Using Facebook on Perceptions of Others\u2019 Lives. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social\nNetworking, Vol.15<\/em>(2), pp. 117-121. doi:10.1089\/cyber.2011.0324<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facebook.\n(2018). Company Info. Retrieved from https:\/\/newsroom.fb.com\/company-info\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feinstein,\nB. A., Hershenberg, R., Bhatia, V., Latack, J. A., Meuwly, N., & Davila, J.\n(2013). Negative Social Comparison on Facebook and Depressive Symptoms:\nRumination as a Mechanism. Psychology of\nPopular Media Culture, Vol.2<\/em>(3), pp. 161-170. doi:10.1037\/a0033111<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan,\nM., Ahmad, N., & Soomro, S. A. (2017). Impact of Social Media on Self-Esteem.\nEuropean Scientific Journal. 13<\/em>(23),\npp. 329-341. doi:10.19044\/esj.2017.v13n23p329<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mascheroni,\nG., Vincent, J., & Jiminez, E. (2015). \u201cGirls are addicted to likes so they\npost semi-naked selfies\u201d: Peer mediation, normativity and the construction of\nidentity online. Cyberpsychology: Journal\nof Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 9<\/em>(1), doi:10.5817\/CP2015-1-5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pearson,\nE. (2009). All the World Wide Web\u2019s a stage: The performance of identity in\nonline social networks. First Monday, 14<\/em>(3).\nRetrieved from http:\/\/firstmonday.org\/htbin\/cgiwrap\/bin\/ojs\/index.php\/fm\/article\/viewArticle\/2162\/2127<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vogel,\nE. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social Comparison,\nSocial Media, and Self-Esteem. Psychology\nof Popular Media Culture, Vol.3<\/em>(4), pp.206-222. doi:10.1037\/ppm0000047<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wagner,\nC., Aguirre, E., & Sumner, E. (2016). The relationship between Instagram\nselfies and body image in young adult women. First Monday<\/em>, 21<\/em>(9). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5210\/fm.v21i9.6390<\/p>\n\n\n\n\"Creative<\/a>
LIFE IS A PERFORMANCE: FACEBOOK, SELF-REPRESENTATION AND SELF-ESTEEM<\/span> by Lana Galea<\/span> is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abstract This paper argues that idealistic self-presentations on Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as Facebook risk damaging other users\u2019 self-esteem by portraying and disseminating unrealistic personas, ideals and lifestyles and thereby triggering upward social comparisons. Using the concept of identity as a performance, as coined by Goffman (1959), this paper explores the opportunities for identity… Continue reading Life is a Performance: Facebook, Self-Representation and Self-Esteem<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[73,8,72,74,7,71],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-identity","tag-depression","tag-facebook","tag-self-esteem","tag-social-comparison","tag-social-media","tag-social-networking-sites"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":428,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions\/428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}