Thesis Title: Subtitle

Presenting the Self on Facebook: What Do I Say?

The pull of mainstream social structures, social values and relationships in constructing the self can be seen when participants decided what to say when they posted or

interacted on Facebook. When considering how the self is constructed on Facebook, examining how participants decide what to post is an important part of this equation as it gives some insight to the extent to which participants utilise the expressive affordances of Facebook to perform their selves. Previous studies such as Tufekci (2008) have found that university students tend to engage in high levels of self-disclosure on SNS, especially on Facebook. Further, Tufekci (2008) argues that Facebook is part of the social, expressive internet, which is largely separate from the instrumental web. The distinction Tufecki (2008) makes between the instrumental and expressive affordances of the internet is rather stark. For Tufekci the expressive internet is:


…the practice and performance of technologically mediated sociality…[in order to] perform and realise social interaction, self-presentation, public performance, social capital management, social monitoring and the production, maintenance and furthering of social ties (2008: 548).

Conversely, the instrumental internet is concerned with, “information seeking, knowledge gathering…This is the internet of online banking, shopping and checking the weather” (Tufecki 2008: 548). This clear delineation between the expressive and instrumental functions of the internet appears to have faded over the past few years.

This is particularly apparent when considering Facebook’s integration with other aspects of the internet. For example, e-commerce sites allow users to create profiles on them using their Facebook profile as a guarantor of their identity. Additionally, many mobile applications use Facebook as a way for users to log in without the trouble of creating a separate profile.

The distinction between instrumental and expressive is a useful one. The most common war of framing their posting choices was in relation to other users. These statements underscore the importance of others in the construction and expression of the self (Cooley 1962). Observing other people’s behaviour on Facebook also helped participants reinforce their own values. Commonly, participants emphasised that the content they posted to Facebook had to be of use to others. For example, communicating travel plans to a broad audience. This serves several purposes such as letting others know where a user is; seeking information about the destination and accomplishing other practical tasks of travel such as accommodation (with friends) or transportation to and from transport hubs. For

Irene, the first purpose, communicating her whereabouts, was most important as she explained the purpose behind her ‘travelling’ posts:

For example if I’m leaving or travelling I will probably post, you know, that I’m gone or that they can’t seek me out at home.

Like Irene, this is also demonstrated in Sage’sposts on Facebook. Posting on Facebook is an easy way for Sage to let her friends know her movements, which in turn facilitates offline socialising. Sage’s approach combines some of the instrumental and expressive functions that Tufecki (2008) identifies.

Yeah, if something significant happens and it's nothing too personal, often I'll share - like I'll make status updates about some - like going to Melbourne. I used to live in Melbourne, so all my friends in Melbourne will [aahhh] and then it's this thing.

While this information may also convey other attributes about Sage, its express purpose is the practical and efficient communication of information. Sage, at least consciously does not conceive this as an expressive performance of the self. In fact, there appears to be a certain stigma attached to posting trivial status updates and most participants take care to post things that are either useful, funny or have some other potential value to the viewer. That is not to say that these types of posts are not also expressive – expressive and instrumental uses are not mutually exclusive – but that participants view them as being categorically different to trivial or mundane posts, which generally contain ‘expressive’ information about the use. The participants in this research view these posts and the disclosures they contain as unnecessary or excessive. Marie’s criteria for deciding what to post is representative of the posting criteria held by all participants interviewed.

It might be that I’ve found something which I think might be very interesting for most of my friends. I think the last time I posted was when we had a pretty great storm here, and everybody was like okay, rain is gone. It was like, no, it’s actually arrived here. Half of my friends just posted how the weather was and we could actually track down where the storm went.

This approach is similar to Zhoa et al. (2008) findings that Facebook users prefer implicit to explicit disclosures regarding the self. This is analogous with ‘showing’ not ‘telling’ aspects of the self (Zhoa et al. 2008). However, some participants such as Matthew participated in little of either behaviour. Matthew’s policy is to only post information seeking posts or post that function like a community announcement.

The only kinds of things I post nowadays are things I’m actively looking for a response too. Kind of like a community service announcement.

While Facebook may have the ability to be an expressive medium, participants in this study generally approached posting in an instrumental, as opposed to expressive manner. Instrumental posts are those that help the user accomplish practical tasks, such as information seeking. Emphasis on useful posts that provide helpful or interesting information is congruent with Wohn et al. (2011) who found that adult users of Facebook frequently use it to participate in information seeking or broadcasting behaviours to help them manage the minutiae of daily life. When not engaging in information seeking or broadcasting ^{behaviours, participants try to avoid posting what they view as trivial or ‘stupid’ posts. This} is markedly differently to what Tufekci’s (2008) observation of college- aged users in the United States who had high level of expressive self-disclosure. In fact, participants’ often positioned their Facebook use in opposition to this type of Facebook use. For example, Paula positions her posts on Facebook in opposition to those who post what she sees as trivial information.

Some people post really stupid things that nobody's interested in – i just really do categorize them as stupid because of that. things like they woke up, they had breakfast, they're at work and bored, they have lunch...but then, you can use fb for meaningful things, i'm subscribed to many pages which inform me about interesting events, but not only pages can be like that, also people, I try to post only useful things myself.

This is similar to Sage who also defines her posts in opposition to trivial or attention seeking posts.

Not this FML, whatever - Fuck My Life acronym shit with, oh, my life - oh, just so sad today or whatever. It's like, whatever. Occasionally I'll post - I'll always post

photos whenever I do one of my jewellery events, post photos from that because - sort of stuff that I know my friends would be interested in. I don't have the time to contact them all directly about it. On the weekend, I was at this thing and posted a photo so people will know, because I'm not going to have time to call people and say, hey, it's going really well or whatever. So use it more for that and know that all my close friends will be checking or will see that… Or if I have a big success in something or - generally I only like to post things about going places or cool stuff happening

Likewise, Zoe, although more expressive with her Facebook posts, argues that she attempts to post ‘quality’ posts.

I mean sometimes I'll just kind of post something like I want to get stuck in a storm in a different country. That was something I was kind of just thinking. I didn't necessarily really require a response from anyone. But oh that's kind of a cool concept. I like to post more quality though. Most of the time, I don't like to post [for example], oh, I got up this morning and ate a bagel.

There is a theme among participants that the most appropriate use for Facebook is a rather utilitarian one and is explicitly linked to their offline activities. It seems that participants are not interested in, and assume others are not interested in the admittedly boring, and intimate details of their daily life. This markedly affects the way the self is presented online. As Cooley argues, the self is part of an organic social whole in which individuals are active participants: “everything that I say or think is influenced by what others have said or thought, and, in one way or another, send out an influence of its own in turn” (1962: 4). Zoe’s representation of her self on Facebook is influenced by what she has seen others do in the same space. However, instead of mimicking this behaviour she has constructed her self- presentation in opposition to these instances, what she posts on Facebook, which can be argued to be at least partially reflective of her self, is influenced by what others have done, and continue to do. Nonetheless, as each individual inhabits to a certain extent, their own unique Facebook-space, what they post does vary slightly. For example, some, like Carol are less restrictive about what they post on Facebook, allowing that they sometimes post out of boredom and desire for connection. But, like the other participants shown here, Carol also structures her posting around interesting or useful information.

Sometimes it’s just things that happen when friends are around... like somebody might say something funny, and I'll post it because I know we have a lot of friends in common and others would also know the person and find it funny... sometimes it's just strange things that happen or that I notice... sometimes it's just general updates, especially when I'm travelling and friends can't reach me any other way. and sometimes it's just posting because I'm bored and I want to talk to people (the famous "xyz is making a sandwich" posts).

So although Carol admits that she engages in some trivial Facebook activity, this is framed as part of a broader desire to connect with people as opposed to attention for attention’s sake. This allows Carol, like the other participants quoted, to maintain her own self-image that seems to be constructed in opposition to the ‘narcissistic’ stereotype of Facebook users. The user in this stereotype is young, self-involved and obsessed with the minutiae of their own life. Parts of this are evident in the accounts above, for example in Zoe’s statement, “I don't like to post [for example], oh, I got up this morning and ate a bagel” and Sage’s “Not this FML, whatever - Fuck My Life acronym shit with, oh, my life - oh, just so sad today or whatever.” Paula also draws on this archetype in constructing her own Facebook use and by extension her self-presentation stating,

some people post really stupid things that nobody's interested in - i just really do categorize them as stupid because of that. things like they woke up, they had breakfast, they're at work and bored, they have lunch.

Carol explained that the types of posts that are on the receiving end of this disdain are associated with her age. She further elaborates that the content she sees on Facebook is highly dependent on those with whom she is a friend. Carol argues that having older friends on Facebook substantially improves the quality of content from trivial to useful and engaging.

It depends on what sort of friends you have on Facebook... if all your Facebook friends are like 14, then that might well be the case [ that you would see boring or trivial posts]... in my case, however, friends often post links to interesting articles, coordinate schoolwork and ask about assignments, invite people for parties etc... for example, Facebook also works to keep you informed about the news (e.g. I first

found out about Bin Laden's death because a couple of my friends posted about it on their status).

The users quoted above carefully use both real and imaged instance of ‘bad’ Facebook use to construct their own self-presentation on Facebook in opposition, as interesting, useful, and by extension, adult. As previous literature primarily focused on young people, it is not surprising that it consequently emphasises the performative aspects of Facebook and therefore argues that the act of creating a profile amounts to writing oneself into being online (boyd 2006, 2011). However, participants expressed – as articulated above by Carol – an aversion to explicitly intimate or otherwise expressive behaviour. The emphasis on performance in and of itself obscures the way Facebook is social and collaborative and the ways in which performance is a by-product of being social.

The distinction that participants make between the instrumental and expressive function of Facebook is not as clear-cut as it appears. While posting information about where one is travelling to is a practical use of Facebook, this also serves to communicate to others some expressive aspects of the self. As in this example, it would illustrate the type of social, cultural and economic capital one has. Similarly participants’ emphasis on posting interesting or useful things further speaks to other aspects of the self. Being able to know what is the ‘right’ type of information in and of itself speaks to a type of cultural knowledge and know-how. Understanding what is substantively interesting and what is not, can speak of one’s cultural tastes and political values. These things, while rarely explicit in what participants posted, are evident and able to be read as second order information. These disclosures are much more in line with what Goffman (1959) would categorise as impressions that are ‘given off’ not ‘given’. According to Goffman (1959) impression ‘given off’ are the unconscious and unintentional aspects of self-presentation. Part of this is due to the type of space in which this self-presentation occurs. By engaging in this space, participants have to confront the possibility for reputational damage. Accounting for this, I argue, has the effect of levelling or homogenising certain aspects of self-presentation, namely the more expressive ones and replacing it with a focus on other, more instrumental functions.