Abstract:
This study examines how members of the original Facebook generation changed their
performances of identity as they moved from college to professional life. Young
professionals between the ages of 25 and 30, who joined Facebook when it was
predicated on the college-network design, were interviewed in individual or focus group
sessions. These interviews revealed that Facebook users often believe their current online
profiles are bound to the context of their collegiate virtual selves, so they control how and
to whom their personal information is disseminated. Thus, they create idealized selves for
audiences whom they think should be viewing their profiles. Facebook users understand
that they have no way to know their actual viewing audience and limited ability to
perform impression management in virtual spaces. They are aware that audiences
ultimately control how any online performance will be understood and assume that
critical judgments, especially about relationship status, will prevail. Users believe written
text is easily manipulated and inauthentic, so pictures express the self more
accurately and fluidly. Though the Internet was once thought to be a space in which
people could develop multiple and unlimited identities, users treat Facebook profiles as
reality rather than representations of a reality.
