Self-presentation on on-line communication platforms

Abstract

The emergence of the Internet and, more recently, on-line social networks has brought a new form of self-presentation, governed by the specific characteristics of the new medium. The so-called Computer Mediated Communication (CMC), which eliminates some of the constraints of face-to-face communication, and special features, such as easy maintenance of anonymity, introduced changes in how the individuals present themselves. Web 2.0 and its services have changed the process of content production, providing the possibility of former receptors to publish their content on Web, mostly in formats like text, static image or video.

As in the off-line context, the way that users manage the content that they publish in the on-line platforms demonstrates the impression that they wish to give of themselves to the others. This paper aims to gain an understanding of the issues related to the particularities of different publication formats, under self-presentation of individuals on their Facebook profiles. To do this, we examined a sample of twenty Facebook profiles - 10 males and 10 females, aged between 18 and 48 years - during fifteen consecutive days, and particular attention was given to the audiovisual content published. The choice of the sample aimed to understand the differences in self-presentation between the different genres and ages.

Data analysis shows that the video format is chosen mainly to demonstrate the users’ specific interests, such as music, sports and humor. On the other hand, the photography format is chosen to promote special and remarkable occasions. We can conclude that the audiovisual content is less used than the other formats in the self-presentation context.