Individual Profiles on SNS: Performing Identity
Performing Identity via SNS is interesting since it affords us a chance to cross-segment our personality (as the term is defined by William James). James said: “Personality implies the incessant presence of two elements, an objective person, known by a passing subjective thought and recognized as continuing in time.” When we look at our profile we have the objective person reflected back at us, via image (a flattering profile picture) text (a list of hobbies/movies/books we like) and the temporal element reflected by the augmentation of these identity-markers as the author of the page sees fit. I wonder how my individual identity is presented on facebook and if it is making use of the tools available to me via social media.
I have looked at a lot of my friend’s individual profiles on social network sites and studied their taste statements—and I feel like a lot of them are making use of technology to link to things that help display their identity. Since I don’t have a list of taste statements on my facebook page, I interviewed two of my friends who I consider very savvy with social media. They are two girls that have curate pages to reflect their interests in a very successful way—since there names rose like cream to the top when I was reflecting for this blog post.
I can see how Liu’s study of SNS yielded a lot of data around the process of curating. By composing interests around a common theme, profile users craft their ‘‘taste statements” to represent who they want others to think of them as—in a simple example: I turn to facebook to see if a friend likes a certain genre of music. If she does, I would invite her to a concert a few weeks later. Therefore, the expressivity on SNS can shape your experiences and is simultaneously shaped by your experiences.
While I agree with Liu’s proposal of a semiotic framework, his categorization of expressivity falling into one of the four categories—prestige, differentiation, authenticity, and theatrical persona—seems too rigid for such a fluid exchange.To get all meta I have a fluid exchange with two friends about this fluid exchange! I first talk to Jovana and she explains that she feels like her page is random and doesn’t have certain preferences up or downplayed. She offers that her friends are often more specific and have what I would call “specialized” pages that are centered around a theme. Anna is an example of a person who composes tokens around the theme of film and after talking to her I learn she sees SNS as a tool to show her favorite videos and “things that have meaning” to friends.
Both girls said they never thought enough about the “curating” process to feel limited but I guess one reason I didn’t add interests is because I want to keep my tastes between my offline friends and not advertise myself. Maybe that notion I had when I first created facebook my freshman year of college is no longer something I identify with—perhaps it is time to list to further perform my identity. Since it would be ridiculous to claim that I wasn’t performing my identity through facebook, instead I’m just not tapping into all the tools available to do so. Almost like I didn’t want to give the full picture because I reserve that information about my tastes for in-person interaction. Reflecting this way makes me realize that my imagined audience influenced my choice not to participate in listing taste statements.I have looked at friends' pages at various stages of our friendships. Most often, I turn to this after a first meeting (to determine quickly what type of a person they are through hobbies and indicators of lifestyle). I am starting to wonder if it is unfair that I elected not to participate in self-expression (hobbies, music, TV shows) via SNS since I know I turn to it when meeting new people.
In another class I am taking, Media and Identity, we talk about the nonce taxonomies that make up an individual. Given the idea that identity is idiosyncratic and fluid, its construction should take place using tools that are receptive to a playful and flexible take on the person—social media appears to be the perfect tool. Yet, I don’t feel comfortable using it as such. On my “info” tab you will see a list of my past employers and schools, my blog and one activity: synchronicity—an ironic and sole listing that doesn’t reflect me much at all. I elected not to list my tastes on facebook because I think it is too often an insincere performance. People can click on a sport and add it to their list without having played in years (as I would be tempted to do with horseback riding). Similarly, liking brands can prove problematic since the like is ambiguous—does the “like” imply patronization of the label or merely drooling while watching the runway show online?
Another thing that interests me about performing identity on SNS is that the sphere of influence you have is much larger than the sphere of influence in an offline setting. Now networks are large and with loose ties. The preferences you list must be enough a part of you that you are okay with loose ties seeing them—so in that sense your authenticity correlates to the scope of your sphere.
Certain life events motivated me to change your profile picture—which to me indicates how identity is connected to relationships and our ability to broadcast those relations online is a subtle form of identity performance that I favor. I changed by profile picture (which had been of me and my three roommates for over a year) when we all started moving out. All our profile pictures started to be singles of ourselves, as we each went separate ways—yet still all remaining friends. In a way this unspoken profile update communicated that the relationship status between my fellow (former) roommates and I changed.
--@kayla8thecity