Week 10: Goffman, Electronic Identities

C&S: Gergen 182-188, Waskul 200-209; C&S: Wolkomir & Powers 219-232

              

               Online we use many of Goffman’s theorized techniques to give off a certain impression of who we are. Whether it’s on a social dating site like OK Cupid or a social networking site, we use certain words and specific pictures to manage our identity online. We can construct many ‘selves’ online, but in order for them to be successful, they must align with prior knowledge that others have of us (for those that know us from elsewhere too). There have been several occasions where my friends have made up new people online on Facebook and have requested to be my friend. They retrieve a picture from elsewhere, make up a name, and make up information about this ‘person,’ including likes and dislikes. Many people fell for this scam and believed it was a new girl at the school, when in reality it was a guy who made a second Facebook profile just to mess with people. Another friend of mine temporarily switched his online identity by changing his name, photo, and information to match up with a Muppets character. Everyone knew it wasn’t actually a Muppet that we were friends with, but he did a good enough job covering up his own information and giving off the Muppet’s identity that it took a really long time for others to figure it out.

I, too, have done things to alter my cyberself and self-presentation. My friend and I once traded profile pictures and changed our names to match that of the other person. For twelve hours or so, I was no longer myself online and instead I was my friend. It was interesting to see how our other friends responded to this—they actually believed I was my friend. They would tag us in photos (as the other person), messaged us thinking we were who we said we were, and continued to respond and interact with us in ways that only helped to construct who we were online as the other person.

This website called My Fake Wall (http://myfakewall.com/) allows you to create fake profiles and make up a person. It uses pictures and names to construct a different online identity or person.