Construction of Identity in a digital world
Dragana Deh and Danica Glođović from the university of Serbia describes the construction of identity in digital spaces as: ‘The emergence of new technologies and the acceleration of the pace of life significantly contributes to the construction of identities in digital space… the possibility of a ‘second life’, i.e. different presentation of oneself (of life) at the virtual level’ (Deh and Glođović, 2018). From my understanding, when I interpret this, it makes me think of fandoms on Twitter – people create ‘stan’ and ‘fan’ accounts for their favourite artists online. They tend to create a username which includes their name incorporated with one of the singer’s songs, use their name and the singer’s surname, or put two song titles together in order to create a username of up to 15 characters. After this, they usually use a picture of the artist as their profile pic of if they have been lucky enough to meet the singer, then they use a picture of them and the singer.
Stan accounts online are a way for music fans and stans to express their love for their favourite artists, meet new friends, find gig buddies and have a new identity in a digital space online that feels as though they are living a second life. Gershen Kaufman explains that “Identity is the essential core of who we are as individuals, the conscious experience of the self inside” (Anzaldúa, 1987). This means that in order to consciously experience life, it is essential for humans to have an identity in order to have a sense of individuality.
Without having a sense of individuality, all humans would be the same so the idea of people living second lives and having multiple identities enables humans to all be different. Goffman explains impression management as ‘The expressiveness of the individual (and therefore his capacity to give impressions) appears to involve two radically different kinds of signs activity: the expression that he gives, and the expressions that he gives off.’ (Goffman, 1959: 14). This means that people have different ways of being interpreted from things that are said compared to how things are read into based on the vibe the person gives off. This links to social media identities in terms of how people can say things online but in person can give off different expressions.
Marwick & Boyd state that, ‘Twitter users negotiate multiple, overlapping audiences by strategically concealing information, targeting tweets to different audiences and attempting to portray both an authentic self and an interesting personality.’ (Marwick, 2005) Which also relate to fandoms and twitter stans, since in order to have a Twitter account that portrays your second identity, it is essential to conceal information about your true self. This is due to the fact you want to portray an authentic self so that people feel enticed to follow you due to your interesting personality, but you do not want to reveal too much about your first identity as it may turn people off following you. This is because outside of your online identity, in person you are not going to be as obsessed with said artist as much as you are on your Twitter fan account.
In terms of having a mediated reality, Couldry and Hepp state that, ‘“media of communication, and the ‘directness’ and ‘mediatedness’ of experience are inextricably interwoven with each other.” (Van Aalst, 2021). This relates to the fact that your first, real and in person identity intertwine with your online second identity.
Reference List:
- Deh, D and Glođović, D. (2018) The Construction of Identity in Digital Space.
- Anzaldúa, G. (1987) Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, San Francisco: Aunt Lute Press
- Marwick A (2005) I’m More Than Just a Friendster Profile: Identity, Authenticity and Power in Social Networking Services. Chicago, IL: Association for Internet Researchers.
- Boyd. D (2008) Taken out of context: American teen sociality in networked publics. PhD Dissertation University of California Berkeley.
- Van Aalst, J.J.P. (2021) Turning the Other into Content A Levinasian Inquiry into Media Representations of the Other in the Global Mediated Environment
I find it interesting how you approached the question as you used the example of stan accounts to show how people may not necessarily be themselves online due to them having so much love for a celebrity to the point where they almost become a sort of brand ambassador for them. Overall, I found this observation quite unique and interesting.
Thank you Yassine!
You use Stans as an example to describe this blog, which I think is an interesting and novel idea!
Thank you Shanshan
Very interesting blog! Explores the construction of identity in the digital realm, specifically about the concept of “Second Life” in virtual space proposed by Deh and Glođović. I also learnt that Gershen Kaufman explores identity as a central aspect of self-experience from the perspective of fan accounts. This article also provoked me to think about the evolving nature of identity in an ever-changing digital environment.