Identity Work

In chapter 3 Humphreys starts by explaining the different roles she has (professor, wife, mother, daughter, mom, friend) and how they are important because they determine the media trace she has. At the beginning of the chapter she talked about how she made a Happy Father’s Day post to her dad even though he doesn’t have social media. This stood out to me because a lot of people I am friends with online do the same thing. I’ve never understood this. Whether it’s Mother or Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, or someone birthday- people make post even if the person they’re doing it for won’t see it (they don’t have social media, etc). When Humphreys talked about Carey’s ritual model it made more sense of why people make posts like that. By Humphreys posting Happy Father’s Day to her dad she is reinforcing her role in life/ identity as a daughter.

Online you are establishing who you are and what you want your identity to be (whether you do it on purpose or not). Your identity is established by the post you make, the things you choose to like, what you share, and who you friend. Personally out of the social media platforms I think Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook are where most people’s online identity match their identity/roles in real life the most. I don’t use Twitter, but from what I’ve seen on my friends accounts I think Twitter is a more informal version of Facebook (to some degree). On Facebook and Twitter people post what’s on their mind, but I feel that users are more likely to say what they really think (good or bad) on Twitter. Also, people’s true humor/ interest are shown on Twitter by looking at who they follow and what they retweet. I think people are less afraid of what others think of them on Twitter vs. Facebook and that allows you to see peoples true identity. 

When talking about Pinterest I think most users identity’s are formed without them thinking about it. From personal experience I think people pin what they like and they don’t think about who’s  going to see it because there isn’t really a ‘home’ page. Maybe I’m doing it wrong. When I go on Pinterest I usually choose a category I like/ want to explore, or I search for whatever I want to see. By having these options people can go straight to their interest instead of seeing what other people are interested in which makes it more relaxed and people are more open. 

Facebook is another platform where I think users online identity is very similar to their true identity. You fill out your ‘About Me’ which goes along with your roles in life, you friend people from places that helped form your identity, you like/ follow pages that show your interests, and you post things that reinforce yourself. Although it seems easy to reinforce your identity on Facebook/ Twitter, there are still problems. Some users hide/ hold back things that show their true identity, fake profiles/ identities are made, etc. 

Another social media platform to think about is Instagram. One of the first things that people see and use to form your identity on Instagram is your bio. You are allowed 150 characters to sum up yourself and let people know who you are, what you like, what they’ll see, etc. This is where you purposely create your identity. In my bio I share some of my roles by letting people know that I am a student, I’m in a sorority, and I work with youth. The reason I chose what to put in my bio is because those are most likely the photos I am going to post. I’ll post pictures from school events, pictures with my friends, or pictures from work. This goes along with Carey’s ritual model. I am reinforcing all of the roles in my bio by posting the pictures I do. So what does it mean if I post a picture that doesn’t go along with one of those roles? Does it create a new identity? What does it mean that I didn’t list all of my roles? And what does it say about people who don’t put anything in their bio? If you don’t put anything in your bio you are letting people come up with their own identity for you by going off of what you post. Instagram can also be tricky because you have fan pages, fitness models, food pages, fashion bloggers, etc. Those are specific identities people are following and what happens if those accounts decide to add other things to them?

All I have to say is identity work is complex.