Boundaries to the Articulation of Possible Selves Through Social Networking Sites: The Case of Facebook Profilers' Social Connectedness

Abstract

General rightsIt is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. AbstractThis study aims to contribute to an emerging literature that seeks to understand how identity markers on social networking sites (SNSs) shape interpersonal impressions, and particularly the boundaries that SNSs present for articulating unconstrained ''hoped-for possible selves.'' An experiment employing mock-up Facebook profiles was conducted, showing that appearing with friends on a Facebook profile picture as well as increasingly higher number of Facebook friends strengthened perceptions of a profiler's hoped-for level of social connectedness. Excessive numbers of friends, however, weakened perceptions of a profiler's real-level social connectedness, particularly among participants with smaller social networks on Facebook themselves. The discussion focuses on when people come to find that reasonable boundaries of self-generated information on an SNS have been exceeded.

Emerging in a Digital World

“…Such identities tend to be expressed implicitly through what the individual chooses to post, as opposed to explicit statements regarding identity (though such expressions can and sometimes are included on SNSs; Zhao et al, 2008). Indeed, some studies suggest that emerging adults specifically use SNSs, such as Facebook, as forums to explore and express their ''true identity'' (Back et al, 2010;Tosun, 2012), though such exploration might have a detrimental effect on social connectedness with others (Zwier, Araujo, Boukes, & Willemsen, 2012).…”

Communication Processes in Participatory Websites

“…They reflect intentional behavior but it is not behavior by which users deliberately meant to express their opinions or overt evaluations about some content to others (in contrast both to user-generated comments and deliberate AURs). The number of one's Facebook friends is one example; it appears on one's profile, and others make inferences from it regardless of the whether or not ''friending'' was meant to signal the social attractiveness of the friend to others (Tong, Van Der Heide, Langwell, & Walther, 2008;Utz, 2010;Zwier, Aruajo, Boukes, & Willemsen, 2011). Incidental AURs often reflect the popularity of an item or person, such as the number of times users have viewed a particular video, or which stories on a news site users have forwarded via e-mail the most often.…”

Is it a tool suitable for learning? A critical review of the literature on Facebook as a technology‐enhanced learning environment

“…To date, Facebook has received considerable attention from a number of research areas, ranging from social and behavioural sciences, economics and law to business and marketing. Indeed, in the social sciences there is a huge amount of research about the implications of Facebook for identity and self‐presentation (Rosenberg & Egbert, ), friendship articulation (Wang, Moon, Kwon, Evans, & Stefanone, ; Zwier, Araujo, Boukes, & Willemsen, ) and privacy concerns (boyd & Hargittai, ; Waters & Ackerman, ), which recently resulted in a systematic review of the literature (Wilson, Gosling, & Graham, ).…”