Category Archives: Online identity

Literature Review #6- Boyd

Why Youth Heart Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life

Danah Boyd

Boyd discusses in her research the identity formation and networked publics that form through teenagers using Myspace. While the application is different than Tinder, her points do help shine some light on important topics in my own research. First she introduces the idea of networked publics, this is an online space that is mediated, instead of the offline world where you have no control over who is around you. “While people cannot currently acquire the geographical coordinates of any person in unmediated spaces, finding one’s digital body online is just a matter of keystrokes,”(Boyd,127). It is easy to find people in online spaces that you may never come across offline.

Through this mediated space, people are allowed to create identities and connect with strangers that they otherwise may not have done in real life. A key concept Boyd writes about that directly correlates with my research is the profile formation and communication through mediated spaces. Something I found while speaking with my four respondents is that, when creating their profile, they certainly had to look at others to see what they were doing. In other words in order to decide what was appropriate for a Tinder profile they needed to look at other users first. They needed to “…get a sense of what types of presentations are socially appropriate; others’ profiles provide critical cues about what to present on their own profile,”(Boyd,128). In doing this the user is directly influenced by others around them and quickly learn the social norms that are embedded in Tinder.

Another interesting factor in her work was the idea that online spaces can often be more dense and confusing to navigate. This allows for misinterpretation much more frequently than might happen in an offline setting, (Boyd,129). All four of my respondents said that it was hard to have deep personal conversations online because it is fairly easy to misunderstand what someone is trying to say or there is fear someone will not understand you. Because of this the likelihood of being misinterpreted on Tinder and even seen in a negative way is much higher

Literature Review #5- Davis

“Tensions of identity in a networked era: Young people’s perspectives on the risks and rewards of online self-expression”

Katie Davis

This piece of research talked about online identity and the implications of having a profile that may be different from who you are as a person. During my research something that was expressed by ¾ of those I interviewed was a concern for someone to be inauthentic to their online selves. Online dating can oftentimes be more authentic than any other online sphere, as Davis explains, “Though a certain degree of embellishment may be expected on such sites, the success of online dating depends, ultimately, on a couple’s ability to bring their relationship offline,”(Davis,638). Those that I spoke to personally about their experience with different online identities ultimately explained that it would be fairly difficult to be completely ingenuous online. If you ever wanted to meet this person in an offline setting, you would want your profile to be as genuine to who you are as possible while also embellishing here and there.

Hank and I went particularly into depth about identity and his feelings of anxiety when he uses Tinder to find a date because he has certainly interacted with people that were not genuine. The specific features of Tinder however allow for the affordance of more comfortability in online identity because of the cross-media aspect of it which I explained in a previous review. Davis goes on to explain that other people did see some benefits in having a space to express yourself that maybe you would not be comfortable doing. For instance during their case study, a few interviewees claimed they saw Chris (the fake profile) as someone who may have not been comfortable with his offline self, (Davis,643). This can also be true for Tinder, as I learned in a few of my interviews, people will use their best photos and ideal traits of themselves to present online. This is certainly a degree of identity management and as Davis goes onto explain sometimes having different online personas can lead to  “…higher levels of identity diffusion,” (Davis,638).

During my own research however, none of my respondents expressed feeling like they were being themselves while using Tinder. They did however explain that most people use the best elements of themselves to make their profile seem more attractive. However we can only speculate the implications this twitter monitoring can lead to. Aside from what Hank expressed as being disappointed when you meet someone offline that isn’t like their profile, a few other issues may ensue. You could feel let down if you were on the other end of the stick and someone else perceives you as disingenuous. Also creating profiles where you seem most attractive does not show people the true you, they only see what you want them to see. This impression management may lead to a future relationship with someone that is built on making yourself look good. The app also creates an environment where looks are the only thing that matter. You select a prospective mate based on the photos they upload of themselves and not necessarily the conversations that follow. Danny, the third person I interviewed expressed to me that he definitely only stops at “hot” profiles and that the way you look is the first thing that attracts you to a mate on Tinder.