Applying Goffman and Giddens to my experoiences with social networking
1. My overall Twitter Profile
Theory;
My twitter page has applications of impression management (Goffman), as I control how
my Twitter profile appears to other users on twitter. I get to control what photo l have as
my profile picture and my cover photo because this can give people a impression of what
your identity is. But it also has elements of self-reflexive (Giddens), as l can create who l
want to be through my twitter profile and the appearance of it.
2. I use twitter to
tweet my own
thoughts as well
as communicate
with my friends
and other twitter
users.
Theory; My actual tweets are evidence of biographical narrative (Giddens), as
my tweets cohere with one another to create a consistent identity. However all
of my tweets are examples of both front and back stage behaviour (Goffman), as
it’s subjective to what I’m talking about but the attitudes remains similar. Front
stage behaviour usually consists of me tweeting lyrics that people similar to me
would enjoy/recognise and back stage behaviour would refer to more relaxed
tweets about my day, or how I’m honestly feeling.
3. These are some of the
most recent tweets l
have ‘liked’, as these
users are the people
I’m most interested in.
Theory;
In these tweets I’d refer to as
‘Identity of performer’ (Goffman)
, as I like tweets dependent on
whether it’s a tweet I personally
like or whether just the person I’m
interested in rather then their
tweet. So l ‘like’ and ‘retweet’
tweets dependent on who’s
tweeting it, like topics I’d discuss
dependent on the social group I’m
with in real life. This is also a
example of my front stage
behaviour (Goffman), as I am
liking and retweeting tweets that
is expected of me to like it.
4. I use my twitter account to talk to
vloggers/celebrities which I can tweet directly.
Tweeting vloggers helps me to improve my “Self
Project” (Giddens), as it allows me to build on who
I want to be on twitter, which would be someone
who can freely communicate with these vloggers
and get responses, as that’s what I’d want my
twitter profile to be.
5. I upload photos which are usually taken on
my phone as it’s easier to upload them.
My profile picture