Making a Good (Virtual) First Impression: The Use of Visuals in Online Impression Management and Creating Identity Performances

This paper argues that visual elements are becoming an increasingly important component of identity performance on social networking sites. Working from a narrative approach to identity, this paper explores how images on SNS are used both as part of an impression management strategy to present identity, and as signs that others on the site can read and interpret as they develop an understanding of the identity of others. Drawing on interview data conducted with users of the Livejournal SNS, this paper argues for a growing visual literacy among users of social networking sites.

[1]  Alice E. Marwick.  'I’m a Lot More Interesting than a Friendster Profile': Identity Presentation, Authenticity and Power in Social Networking Services , 2005 .

[2]  E. Goffman.  The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life , 1959 .

[3]  Lori Kendall.  "Shout Into the Wind, and It Shouts Back" Identity and interactional tensions on LiveJournal , 2007, First Monday.

[4]  Kelly V. Ladd.  Textuality, Performativity and Archive: Examining the Virtual Body in Socially Networked Space , 2009 .

[5]  M. Consalvo,et al.  Fono, David, and Raynes-Goldie, Kate. . Hyperfriends and Beyond: Friendship and Social Norms on LiveJournal. , 2006 .

[6]  M. Leary,et al.  Self-presentation in everyday interactions: effects of target familiarity and gender composition. , 1994, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[7]  Niki Panteli,et al.  Trust and temporary virtual teams: alternative explanations and dramaturgical relationships , 2004, Inf. Technol. People.

[8]  Kate O'Riordan,et al.  Internet research annual , 2005 .

[9]  A. Siibak.  Constructing the Self through the Photo selection - Visual Impression Management on Social Networking Websites , 2009 .

[10]  Erika Pearson,et al.  All the World Wide Web's a Stage: The Performance of Identity in Online Social Networks , 2009, First Monday.

[11]  S. Turkle.  Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet , 1997 .

[12]  Daniel Skog,et al.  Social interaction in virtual communities: the significance of technology , 2005, Int. J. Web Based Communities.

[13]  Judith Donath,et al.  Public Displays of Connection , 2004 .

[14]  Claudia Rebaza,et al.  Online Gestures: Icon Use by Fan Communities on LiveJournal , 2008, Proceedings of the 41st Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2008).

[15]  M. Hardey.  Life beyond the Screen: Embodiment and Identity through the Internet: , 2002 .

[16]  Danah Boyd,et al.  Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[17]  Erika Pearson,et al.  Digital gifts: Participation and gift exchange in Livejournal communities , 2007, First Monday.

[18]  Hugo Liu,et al.  Social Network Profiles as Taste Performances , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..