The document defines social networking as web-based services that allow individuals to create profiles and connect with others, emphasizing the importance of impression management in online interactions. It explores how users curate their profiles to influence perceptions and discusses the psychological effects of social networking on self-esteem and identity formation, particularly among adolescents. The study highlights the prevalence of social networks and their impact on communication, emphasizing that social networking is a fundamental aspect of modern social life.

1. Kathleen Ferguson |
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2. Social Networking
Defined
“
web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public
or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list
of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view
and traverse their list of connections and those made by others
within the system.”
(boyd & Ellison, 2007)

3. Layman’s Terms
Social networking
exists in the online
environment and
allows individuals to
connect with people,
share thoughts,
feelings, photos,
videos and audio.

5. Social
Networking
in 5 Words

6. Recipe to Social Network
Ingredients:
Social network site of your choosing
Personality
Friends
Photos, videos and any other visual aids
Thoughts & feelings
Method:
Join a social networking site –
Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc., if you haven’t already. Add
a handful of friends and stir. Season with a little personality.
Upload photos, videos and any other visual aids to assist in
your profile’s development. Whisk in your thoughts & feelings
into multiple status updates. Voila!

7. A key ingredient to social networking
is...
Or
Impression Management

8. Social networking & impression management
go hand in hand.

9. Impression Management:
Refers to the process of consciously
controlling information in order to
lead others’ opinions or perceptions
in favour of personal or social
goals.
We could call this, ‘self PR?’

10. When we construct a
profile on our social
networking site, we are
controlling what
information we want
people to know about
ourselves; we are
managing the
impression we make on
other people.

11. Social media endorses impression management.

12. How

13. The process of collating information to
present in your personal profile is called
impression management.
“Profiles tell us how people choose to
portray themselves when asked explicitly to
do so.”
(Barash, et al., 2010)

14. “By looking at others’ profiles, teens
get a sense of what types of
presentations are socially appropriate;
others’ profiles provide critical cues
about what to present on their own
profile”.
(boyd, 2007)

15. Learning how to manage impressions is a
valuable social skill acquired only through
experience. This process begins as
children and further develops as adults.
(boyd, 2007)

16. As social networks are still a relatively new
technology, the process of impression
management within these sites is still a
new concept.

17. In the context of
social networking
sites, body language
and tone of voice are
not immediately
visible and the skills
people need to
interpret situations
and manage
impressions are
different.
(boyd, 2007)

18. Although we try to manage impressions, often
people may misinterpret what we are trying to
convey.

19. When we post status updates or tweets, we encode a
certain message we wish to portray.

20. However, our declared friends may
decode our message in the
unintended way.

21. 5
There are identified dimensions
of impression management.
(Barash, et al., 2010)

22. Ingratiation
A conscious attempt to beautify or perfect one’s image in the eyes of another.

23. 2
Intimidation
Enough said...

24. Self-promotion

25. Exemplification (appearing
virtuous)

26. Supplication (looking weak to engender help)

27. Another key ingredient to social
networking is...
FRIENDS!!!!!

28. Facebook friends, or friends in any other
social networking site, interact with, and
provide feedback to your profile and
postings.

29. Golder, et al.
recently conducted
a study on Facebook
and found that
users only ‘poke’
and message a small
number of people,
despite the large
amount of declared
‘Facebook friends’.
(Golder, et al., 2007: Huberman, et al. 2009)

30. So why all the friends, if you aren’t
going to interact with them?

31. It all has to do with popularity,
self-esteem and acceptance. The
more friends we declare on our
profile, the cooler we look...
...or so we like to think!

32. This then leads us to self-esteem!

33. Yes, self-esteem issues are present in online
social networks as well. Sorry people, we
can’t escape them!

34. Research has found self-
esteem levels in adolescence
who social network are
directly related to the tone of
responses received to
information posted on
personal profiles...
(Pempek et al., 2009)

35. As such, adolescence groups engage with
social networking sites to gauge peer opinions
of themselves and to seek peer acceptance
which ultimately leads to the formation of one’s
identity.
(Pempek et al., 2009)

36. “
By early 2006, many
considered
participation on the
key social network
site, MySpace, esse
ntial to being seen
as cool at school.”
(boyd, 2007, p.1)
Although, let’s face it, the cool
kids would never say, cool at
school.

37. Did you know?
People who receive attention from multiple
people will post more often than people who
receive little attention.
(Huberman, et al. 2009)

38. As a result, people with more declared friends
will network more frequently.
This can be likened to life outside of social
media, those who have more friends will
socialise more, than those who do not.

39. Random Fact # 1
“
Across the globe
over the past
year (2010)
average time
spent on social
networking sites
grew from 3
hours per month
to 5.5 hours.”
(Joe’s Blogg, 2011)

40. Random Fact # 2
In 2011, Facebook’s user-base hit in
excess of 640 million users – half of
which login daily.
(Joe’s Blogg, 2011)

41. Random Fact # 3
“ Facebook was
the most-
searched term
in 2010 for the
second year
running.”
(Charlton, 2011)

42. And there you have it.
Social networking online is
here to stay.
Although there are so many deeper
elements to social networking, at the end
of the day the beauty is, communicating
with friends is now easier than ever.

43. For an interesting video on social
media facts for 2011, click the
image below.

44. References
boyd, dm & Ellison, NB 2007, ‘Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship’, Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication, vol 13, no. 1, viewed 19 October
2011, <http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html >.
Pempel, TA, Yermolayeya YA, Calvert SL 2009, ‘College students’ social networking experiences on
Facebook’, Journal of Applied Development Psychology, vol. 30, pp. 227-238.
Joe, 2010, Joe’s Blogg, weblog, viewed 20 October
2011, <http://www.joesblogg.com/2010/03/social-media-usage-statistics-2010/>.
Charlton, G, 2011, Econsultancy Digital Marketers United, weblog, viewed 20 October
2011, <http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/8175-10-fantastic-facebook-infographics>.
boyd, d 2007, ‘Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage
Social Life’, MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Learning – Youth, Identity, and Digital Media
Volume, (ed. David Buckingham). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Barash, V, Ducheneaut, N, Isaacs, E & Bellotti, V, 2010, ‘Faceplant: Impression (Mis)management in
Facebook Status Updates’, Proceedings of the Fourth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs
and Social Media, Association of Artificial Intelligence, pp. 207-210
Huberman, BA, Romero, DM & Wu, F 2009, ‘Social networks that matter: Twitter under the
microscope’, Peer Reviewed Journal on the Internet, vol. 14, no. 1-5