Abstract:
This paper discusses how a person’s identity shapes the way that they use social media. This paper also discusses about acculturation and transient migrants and how their social media usage has been affected as well as the struggles that they go through. Another topic discussed would be the categorisation of people according to their personality.
Introduction:
Over the years, social media platforms have grown to become a prominent tool in our everyday lives. Social media has aided us in many ways in situations regarding our identity, networking, advocacy online and etc. This essay will discuss how a person’s identity shapes and determines the way that they use social media platforms. This essay will also dive into how this can result in negative and positive impacts. This essay topic relates to the conference stream: identity and online advocacy. A person’s identity shapes the way that they utilise social media platforms which in turn determines the experiences of other users.
Definitions:
Aichner et al (2021) stated a definition by Bishop (2019), social media is an online resource which facilitates communication between people. Aichner et al. (2021) also stated that social media used to be a platform for its users to communicate with their friends and family. Social media platforms have now evolved to become a platform which is also being used by influencers, celebrities and businesses. Social media platforms have proved to be successful at facilitating communication as well as for sharing knowledge and news (Aichner et al 2021). Some examples of social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok.
Balmer (2008) stated that there are many different types of identities such as individual, corporate, national, social identity, etc. However, our identity stems from the question of ‘where do we come from’ and who are we. A person’s race, gender, nationality, beliefs, culture and personality contributes to their identity (Balmer 2008). A person can have more than one identity. However, a person’s personal and individual identity forms the foundation of all the other identities that they have. A person’s identity determines the way that they would react, act and portray themselves in different situations and towards different people.
Discussion and analysis:
Since the definitions of both identity and social media have been defined, the conference paper will now focus on the relationship between them. Users use social media according to their identity and the identity that they want to portray. For example, someone who is religious may choose to post content relating to their religion. Someone who is an extrovert may choose to keep their social media account profile public and may post photos or videos of themselves going out. Someone who likes exploring different cuisines may choose to follow chefs or accounts that post food content and the user may tend to mainly post posts relating to food. However, at the same time, someone who is very religious in real life or someone who identifies as part of the LGBTQ community may choose not to show that part of themselves on their social media platforms.
A person’s views, morals and outlooks on life are some factors that will decide their identity on their social media account. A person who grew up in a conservative household and who was brought up to be conservative will be more conservative in their posts. A person who is open-minded and who was taught to speak their mind may be more opinionated and may post their views and opinions on current issues even if it is controversial to do so.
However, users also have to consider some other factors when it comes to choosing the identity that users want to portray on their social media platforms. Taking Instagram as an example, a user may have their friends, family and colleagues following them. Depending on the relationship that the user has with the different groups of people and the type of identity that they show to them determines the content that they post on their Instagram. For example, a user who loves to party and drink with their friends may not post that side of them on Instagram due to the fact that their family does not know that part of them and due to the fact that they do not want their colleagues to change and compare the impression and perception that they have of the user’s identity at work. This is known as audience segregation (Yau, Marder and O’Donohoe, 2020 ).
The option of hiding followers from seeing the content posted on Instagram stories is available. However, it can get tiring to keep track of what a user has hidden from which follower. The option of not allowing certain people to follow the account is possible. However, it is difficult to do so in current times as social media platforms are widely used for networking and communication. This is why many users choose to post content based on the parts of their identity that are known to all of their audiences, rather than to lose out on networking and communication opportunities. However, by doing so, some users are worried that the content that they post will result in issues with the views and expectations of different audiences. The user may appear as ‘fake’ to a certain audience group for portraying a different identity (Yau, Marder and O’Donohoe ,2020).
Some users choose to embrace themselves by not segregating their audiences and continue to post whatever content that they want. This is due to the fact that they do not want to change their identity on social media just to maintain the impression that their different audiences have of them from real life. They use social media as a way to share with their friends, families and colleagues the different identities that they have. This in a way allows the user to bond with them on another level. It also takes confidence and vulnerability to be able to be transparent on social media.
Transient migrants:
Yau, Marder and O’Donohoe (2020) stated that migrants are an example of people who have a hard time choosing the identity that they want to portray on their social media accounts. Transient migrants are migrants who have moved to another country for a short duration. International students are an example of transient migrants (Yau, Marder and O’Donohoe 2020). Social media allows transient migrants to communicate with people from their home country as well as allowing them to network with people from the country that they are currently in.
Acculturation:
An issue that transient migrants face is having to balance their host country and home country identity (Yau, Marder and O’Donohoe 2020). They may receive backlash from friends and family from back home for embracing too much of their host country’s culture as it seems like they have forgotten their roots and culture. However, if they continued to only embrace their home country’s identity, it would seem like they are not bothered to try to learn and assimilate into their host country’s culture and roots. It would also make it difficult for them to connect with people from their host country as the migrant would seem uninterested to mingle and learn.
This is an example of acculturation. Acculturation is when one has to redefine and reconstruct their personal and social identity (Yau, Marder and O’Donohoe 2020). Transient migrants have to acculturate in a way that they can assimilate with the culture of the host country while maintaining their cultural values and identity from their home country. However, it may be difficult for transient migrants to do this as the values and views of their audiences vary from each other, due to being from different countries. The best way for transient migrants to successfully carry out acculturation is by focusing on their own views and beliefs and the way that they want their identity to be perceived as.
An example of this is the experience of Neema who is from Ghana and who is currently studying in the United Kingdom. She identifies herself as a religious but not highly religious person (Yau, Marder and O’Donohoe 2020). She has indulged in paradoxical strategies when it came to maintaining her social media account due to the differences in views and values of her audiences from Ghana and the UK (Yau, Marder and O’Donohoe 2020). A person’s nationality plays a big part in someone’s identity and also has a part in shaping their views and values. The culture and views of people from Ghana and the UK differ from each other. Yau, Marder and O’Donohoe ( 2020 ) stated that Neema constantly untags herself from any posts of her drinking, from posts containing alcohol or posts of her looking drunk so that she can regulate her self-identity online to be consistent with her culture from Ghana. Yau, Marder and O’Donohoe ( 2020 ) also stated that Neema’s profile photo is of her with a glass of wine. Even though she receives emails and comments about her profile photo, she chooses to keep it as part of her acculturation process. Neema tells people that the had a glass of wine as it was Christmas and that she is celebrating a special occasion. Christmas is an important celebration in the UK. Yau, Marder and O’Donohoe ( 2020 ) also stated that alcohol is part of the student culture in the UK as well as associated with cultural and moral values. This shows that Neema has been able to successfully acculturate her social media identity as she considered the views of her audiences from her home and host country.
Categorization of people:
Another issue faced by the relationship between social media and identity is that in recent years there is an increase in the categorization of people into different aesthetics such as e-girls, e-boys, soft girls, grunge, Y2K etc. The different styles have also been termed as “cores”. Some examples of those cores are barbie-core, clown-core, fairy-core, etc (Mikhalyants 2023). The aesthetic or core that someone belongs in mainly depends on their fashion sense and how they portray themselves. The trend of wanting to fit into one of these aesthetics has resulted in many teenagers to alter their identities. This has two negative impacts. Firstly they are altering themselves to be someone that they are not. Secondly, these aesthetics tend to die down quickly. Many teenagers find themselves spending a huge sum of money to buy clothes or to alter their looks by dyeing their hair just to fit into the aesthetic. When the aesthetic dies down days, weeks or months later, they end up having to once again alter their looks to fit into the new popular aesthetic. They force themselves to be someone that they are not just to keep up with current trends. Social media is a place for its users to share their identities. This has resulted in users forgetting their identities and adopting a fake identity instead.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, social media allows its users to utilise the platform according to their identity. However, it also results in its users altering or changing their identity in order to fit into the social norms. A person’s identity shapes the way that they use social media while social media shapes the way a person portrays their identity. As discussed, a person’s identity determines if they would participate in audience segregation or acculturation. It is also up to the user to decide to what extent they would allow social media to alter their identity as well as what aspects of their identity they would continue to portray.
End reference list:
Aichner,T. Grünfelder, M. Maurer, O. Jegeni, D. (2021). Twenty-Five Years of Social Media: A Review of Social Media Applications and Definitions from 1994 to 2019. CYBERPSYCHOLOGY, BEHAVIOR, AND SOCIAL NETWORKING 24(4). https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2020.0134.
John M.T. Balmer. (2008). Identity based views of the corporation: Insights from corporate identity, organisational identity, social identity, visual identity, corporate brand identity and corporate image. European Journal of Marketing, 42(9), 879-906. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560810891055
Mikhaylyants, A. (2023). TikTok Core: The Fashion World of Today. The Harvard Crimson. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/3/9/tiktok-aesthetics-microtrends-fast-fashion-style/#:~:text=In%20the%20past%20years%2C%20multiple,core%2C%20or%20Abercrombie%2Dcore
Yau, A., Marder, B., & Stephanie O’Donohoe. (2020). The role of social media in negotiating identity during the process of acculturation. [The process of acculturation] Information Technology & People, 33(2), 554-575. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-09-2017-0305
Hi L, The thing is the paper is mainly concentrated on the African continent particularly.If you make an analysis of…