Why do people choose to only portray a narrowed focus of their identity

on social media?

Andrew Munroe

Advisor: Libby Cowles

Abstract

In today’s society, social media is one of the primary forms of communication that almost
everyone uses. As social media continues to expand, and the amount of content one has access to
grows, there is a concern that users are fragmenting their identities in order to fit in. Explored in
this paper are the motivations behind why users feel the need to fragment their identities on
social media. This research draws on sources studying media consumption and personality traits.
In the available research, there is a link between the social needs of a person and the amount of
fragmentation they display. It appears that there are also links between a person's personality and
the amount of social support they need, but it is uncertain if this is related to the amount of
support they seek in social media. There are also many different variables that affect how a user
interacts with social media including age, ethnic group, class, gender, etc. These conclusions
indicate that social media has unintended negative consequences for its users, but further
research needs to be done to see if these effects are long term.

12th Grade Humanities

Animas High School

11 April 2019
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 Part I: Introduction

“How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of

our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be

remarkable?” (Seth Godin)

Has social media become the new form of communication between friends, family, and

strangers? Has social media twisted our perception of what is real and what is fake? Has social

media changed the way we interact with each other? Extensive investigation into detailed

research papers and a deeper dive into the experiments of researchers show that these questions

can be answered with one word: Yes. In current society, users of technology have experienced a

profound change in the way they create identities, and have learned how to break themselves into

different facets, all because of the influence of social media. The rise of the profile has forever

changed our view of others on social media platforms. A simple photograph has the ability to

convey who and what that person is. Judging a person from a single photo is widely accepted as

the norm and confirms that people become favored by showing only a sliver of who they truly

are. The problem with conforming people to a sliver of who they are narrows the view of a

person down to a specific fragment. The person then starts to fully embody this only fragment, in

both the real world and the virtual one. This often leads to the belief that social media

interactions are more meaningful than real experiences. When people believe that social media is

more meaningful than the outside world, they portray themselves to match what users want on

social media platforms. The predisposed perceptions, emotions, and personality traits that a

person exhibits can determine how they will ultimately choose to portray their identity on social

media, leading to a fragmented personality that morphs them into a different person.

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 Part II: Historical Context/Background

Social media is a term defined as a form of online communication used to create

networks, communities, and collectives to share information, messages, and other content such

as videos. Social media has blossomed from a concept, into a fully integrated part of society in

the span of just a few years. Most people consider the start of modern social media began with

the start-up of the internet during the 1960s and 1970s when people were able to almost instantly

send basic emails to each other over long distances. With the surge of social media came the

ability to instantly stay connected with nearly anyone anywhere in the world. Today, there

around 2.62 billion social media users around the world, and by the year 2021, that number is

expected to grow to over three billion (Cooperative). The most significant contributor to social

media growth is the ability to share photos and videos documenting the daily activity of billions

of users.

After social media became one of the main forms of communication, people changed

how they socialize, and interestingly enough, users’ self-perception changed based on what they

see on social media. The way that users started to consume the media had a very real and very

large impact on how they present themselves on social media as well as their interactions with

each other inside a social media platform and in the world of face-to-face human interaction.

Social media users started to develop habits such as documenting parts of their lives that others

found to be the most interesting, such as what they ate for breakfast and their workout routines.

As these users started to receive more of the attention on social media, their content influenced

other users to follow suit. The users simply didn’t start copying what influencers posted, instead

they created fake personalities in order to better fit in with what people found popular. However,

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users did not merely create a fake personality; they only posted photos and videos of one or more

facets, which is a specific aspect, of themselves. They broke themselves into small pieces and

only displayed the ones on which other users would be more likely to give positive

reinforcement, also known as positive social support.

Part III: Research and Analysis

Section A: Motivations and Uses Behind Social Media

For almost all social media users, their motivation in using social media comes from a

desire to become famous by creating a ‘perfect’ version of themselves with which everyone will

engage. With social media having become an extensive platform for creativity, the ability to

create a ‘perfect’ self has become as easy as breathing. As explained in the article “Social Media

and Self: Influences on the Formation of Identity and Understanding of Self through Social

Networking Sites,” Ganda reinforces this idea that people create perfect versions of themselves

by stating how social media users create identities and then see how trendy they become:

The user has this space in social networks to work on their online identity and

create an identity that falls within certain peer categories that are seen as popular

or beneficial to a larger status structure. Through this reflective lens, the user can

then look to others as a way of measuring whether or not their own online identity

will garner the same positive attention and understanding and if in the case it does

not, the user can change that identity presentation accordingly. (17)

Essentially, with social media, a user will create an identity that other people will find attractive

and then address any issues with the identity after a time. Not only are people motivated to

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imitate what is popular, but they are also motivated to use social media in order to satisfy social

needs. In Seidman's article “Self-Presentation and Belonging on Facebook,” she researches why

people use the media and found that “individuals were more likely to use Facebook to seek

acceptance and maintain connection” (405), instead of using Facebook or other media outlets to

gain a following. Seidman also went on to find that people sought out the same needs regardless

of the social media platform that they were using. This need to satisfy specific social need stems

from the want to fit in and feel accepted by mirroring those who are already famous on social

media sites.

How do people know what is popular and how to mirror that on the media? It comes from

a more common source than many would imagine. Most users see what is popular from other

influences, who surprisingly are only mirroring another source. The source is television shows.

Depending on what is shown on the television shows, users can internalize different choices. For

example, in “Mirroring the Media,” Kapidic discusses that “Findings show that television

viewing was a predictor of the choice of pictures showing the body, as opposed to only the face,

and wearing revealing clothing. Magazine exposure had no direct effect on such choices” (293).

While internalizing what makes something popular and then re-projecting it back onto social

media can gain a user more followers, it also creates the issue of body-ism. Because what the

television shows seem to broadcast is the sexualization of both women and men, influencers

choose to portray themselves as sexualized. However, as influencers create what people find

popular, other users often try to copy the influencers and therefore create an identity that is not

necessarily who they usually are through a false portrayal of their identities.

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Section B: Personality Traits on Social Media

With social media, different personality types will interact with sites in different ways.

Depending on a person's personality, “an individual will adjust aspects of their presentation

according to the reactions and presentations of those around them (Boyd 20). In the article

“Personality Traits and Social Media Use in 20 Countries,” the researchers analyze how users

who tend to feel more “comfortable talking to others, and striking new conversations, will also

tend to more frequently use social media in general, to consume news, and of course to relate to

other people or meet new people with shared interests” (Zuniga et al. 545). The more

agreeableness that a user displays links back to a stronger, active use on social media.

The drawback of having such an active use on social media is the constant pressure to

stay up to date with the trends and successful self-presentation. A successful self- presentation

being when a user uploads a photo or video of themselves, they then receive massive amounts of

positive feedback. When users are pressured to have a successful self-presentation, specifically

“for those high on narcissism and low on self-esteem, consistent exposure to positive content

posted by others may result in distorted perceptions that may induce envy, lead to depression,

and reduce wellbeing over time” (Lin 616). The distorted perceptions that lead to health issues

can also be passed along to other users. When these users influence others, their problems are

also simulated, creating a chain reaction wave of low self-esteem and poor self-comparisons

across their followers. The reason influencers create chain reactions is because users seek out

people with the same interests and activities and then try to relate to them in anyway possible

(Zuniga 545). The relation between the influencer and the follower can often change the

emotional state of both parties involved.

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 When the emotional state of a user starts to suffer it can lead to larger issues. In a data

analysis across 20 countries, researchers found that “those low in emotional stability display

borderline pathological traits of anxiety and worry, and are thought to use media technologies

depending on their level of extroversion or loneliness” (Zuniga 541). It is essentially the same as

people looking for comfort on social media in order to curb their anxiety or worry. The more

social media sites grow, the easier it if for emotionally unstable people to look for comfort on the

platforms.

Section C: Different Facets of Personality on Social Media

As social media sites continue to grow, so does our knowledge of the users. Psychologists

found that when users interact with social media, they create a profile that tends only to show a

part of their lives that others find interesting such as morning routines and trending fashion that

celebrities wear. The aspects that a user shows refers to as a person having a faceted identity, or

as explained by Goffman, “In any given situation, an individual presents a face, which is the

social presentation of one facet of their identity. I believe that an individual has a coherent sense

of self, but in presenting only facets of their identity, they are perceived as fragmented”(qtd in

Boyd 27). Presenting a face on social media is not very different than in real life, but the

platforms have made it so we can show a specific identity to thousands of people at once. Due to

social media having such a significant influence on the lives of people who use it, it is no wonder

that people choose to fragment themselves in order to fit in with what is trending and to feel

welcomed by the social community.

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 With social media being such a large influence, users cannot just choose a part of their

identity and post about it; they have to spend time carefully crafting the perfect profile based on

what type of social support they desire. As Boyd states, “people present themselves differently in

particular situations, not because they are hiding aspects of themselves, but because some

behaviors are more appropriate in one context than another” (25). It is the same as when people

go into a job interview, they present the professional side of themselves in order to get hired.

This reliance on fragmenting a person into smaller identities comes from people wishing to seek

out specific social support, and depending on a person's personality, this can change.

In terms of social media, two categories are used to group the users, introverted and

extroverted. Users who exhibit more extroverted tendencies, or more outgoing personality traits,

will seek out belonging on social media sites by actively commenting and uploading an identity

that shows them in more interesting situations such as swimming with sharks or more attention

seeking activities. Those who are introverted, or shy, tend to stay in the shadows and only show

parts of themselves or only post external objects that they think people might enjoy but not

openly interact with such as landscapes or fashionable shoes. In the age of technology and

connection, social media has opened the door for anyone to fragment themselves and portray

themselves that accentuate parts of themselves that other people like.

Social media continues to grow, and users find that it is easy to fragment one's identity,

which can lead to different outcomes from the users. Social media creates perceived social

support where a user can gain positive experiences from other users, or negative ones. In the

context of social media and general society, self-esteem is a personality trait that indicates how

highly, or lowly, one thinks of oneself. In regards to social media, “people with low self-esteem

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are often more affected by negative comments and put less value on their opinions and ideas than

those with high self-esteem and often lack social support” (Wohn 563). The most common social

support comes in the form of ‘likes’ on photos and videos with Wohn also stating that “the

number of Likes received on a Facebook post is positively correlated with how satised one is

with the responses received”(563). Social media can create a sense of massive social support

simply at the tap of the fingers, but this can also force people to change how they portray

themselves.

With the pressure to be popular, users also have to imitate what is popular by fragmenting

themselves into what people will like. In Danah Boyd’s book ​Living and Learning with Social

Media, ​she discusses how, “People control social presentations to meet their needs, including the

desire for privacy, perceived social acceptability, fear of disgrace or harm, or perhaps an internal

need to control different aspects of one’s life through separation”(29). Users have to control the

parts that they want the world to see. A user’s personality can have a large effect on how they

interact with other users and also how they choose to present themselves. Users who are both

introverted and extraverted will actively try to imitate others by comparing themselves and

reshaping their profiles. Extraverts actively seek out the acceptance and connection of those on

social media platforms, while introverts tend to stay in the background trying to find and imitate

what other people find popular. In the book ​Principles of Social Psychology,​ author explains how

humans “are able to compare themselves favorably with others, they feel good about themselves,

but when the outcome of comparison suggests that others are better or better off than they are,

then their self-esteem is likely to suffer”(Stangor). Not only does this indicate that social support

and self-esteem is linked, but it also demonstrates a reason that people would want to portray a

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part of themselves that they can compare favorably against other social media users. If a user

was to post about animal abuse and how veganism can stop it, but they doesn’t receive very

much support and they don’t measure up to what other people are posting. Eventually they might

stop posting that facet of their identity which can reduce their self esteem. This leads them to

only emphasise the aspects of their lives that people agree with.

By comparing themselves favorably against other users on social media, people can

heighten their self-esteem and truly fulfill parts of their lives that were previously lacking.

However, this need for social support also forces users to modify their identities on the sites if

they wish to gain followers, and otherwise reach the same popularity level as everyone else.

Because the competition for attention is high, users often have to pick and choose how they will

present themselves on social media, and depending on the personality of the user, how the

interact on the social media sites can change.

Section D: Presenting for Social Support

The rise of social media has not only created a platform for creativity and storytelling, it

has also created a space for users to fulfill needs that they felt they were previously lacking. In

Danah Boyd’s book ​Living and Learning with Social Media,​ she discusses how creating different

facets, or focused aspects of oneself, of an identity can offer “relief and empowerment for

marginalized individuals, as they can find acceptance and support in certain communities while

being shunned by society as a whole” (27). By creating different aspects of themselves on social

media, users can find a place where they feel supported and can fill parts of their emotional

wellbeing that may have been missing. For extraverted users, this means receiving support

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through comments that support their lifestyles, and for introverted users this could mean having

other users simply like their photos, giving them a sense of being.

Depending on what a social media user is in need of, their interaction level on social

media can change. Neuroticism often creates this sensation where they experience feelings such

as anxiety, worry, fear, anger, frustration, envy, jealousy, guilt, depressed mood, and loneliness.

As most people have a little neuroticism, we all feel the need to justify and feel good about

ourselves by posting on social media sites. While not typically negative, the type of response a

personality type is looking for often motivates how the user will present themselves on the sites.

In a cyberpsychology article, “Personality Traits, Motivations, and Emotional Consequences of

Social Media Usage” by Jhih-Syuanit Lin, it was found that:

Extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism are positively related to actual

self-presentation. While neuroticism is positively related to hidden and ideal

self-presentation, conscientiousness, or wishing to be thorough, is negatively

associated with hidden and ideal self-presentation. (617)

As different personality types portray themselves differently on social media, with those who are

extroverted and introverted searching for social support, it pushes both types of people to analyze

and adapt parts of their identities to be considered popular. Users try to be as popular as possible

with as many people as possible because they gain positive social support while also avoiding

negative social support. With the push to modify oneself to be popular, social media forces users

to take on the shape of someone they may not typically embody. When users create fake

portrayals, it eventually spreads throughout the sites and is hard to distinguish between what is

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real and what is false, creating impossible ideals that other users cannot compare favorably

against.

Section E: Influences of Predispositions

As social media has become such an integrated part of society, it is easy for millions of

users to portray only slivers of themselves on the media. However, researchers found that a user's

personality heavily influence their interactions on the internet. In Stangors research, ​Principles of

Social Psychology, i​ t was discovered that:

Sometimes, the influence of other people’s appraisals of ourselves on our

self-concept may be so strong that we end up internalizing them. For example, we

are often labeled in particular ways by others, perhaps informally in terms of our

ethnic background, or more formally in terms of a physical or psychological

diagnosis (Stangor).

Essentially, when users create a identity on social media, other users often assign labels to that

user. These labels then become the characteristics that users start to embody. This is similar in

the way that children can pick up habits from their parents. These ‘habits’ then become the way

that users act, also known as the predispositions that they hold. This influence from other users

relates back to the comparison aspect of users. When users compare themselves favorably

against others, they feel good about themselves, and when they are unable to, they start to show

signs of depressions, anxiety, etc. The comparisons is where the fragmentation of a user’s

identity comes into play. When users see that they can compare themselves favorably by only

showing the ‘good’ parts of their lives, they are more likely to do so, regardless of if that is who

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they truly are. In today's society, where social media can be an expression of one’s deepest

desires and false realities, it has become the medium of expression for the everyday person. With

the pressure of popularity and the ability to fragment one’s own identity, we have forever

changed the interaction between two humans.

Part IV: Conclusions

The fragmentation into a faceted identity based on a person’s predispositions on social

media is a mechanism that technology users utilize in order to fulfill a need for social support,

maintain a popular standing amongst other users, and to feel good about their own lives when

compared to others. Fragmentation of one’s identity allows the user to be the hero in their own

story, and to create a life without negatives and misfortune. With social media, it is no surprise

that users want to show off the best of their skills, traits, and lives while leaving what is terrible,

sad, and unfortunate in the dark. In a society that values beauty and the concept of perfection, it

is hard to judge a social media user on their motivations behind how they post and interact with

the sites. As the rise of social media has created an age in which anything is possible, the path to

be popular is through portraying an aspect of ourselves. The reason to facet one’s identity is to

become popular.

Individuals who have stronger desires for positive support are more likely to suffer a

strong fragmentation due to their need for unmet social support. Social media has made it so that

we give our social support to those we find popular and ignore the others. This indicates that

society seems to only value popularity as a whole and not the health of the individual. It is highly

likely that users fragment themselves in order to join the reputation in order to feel satisfied and

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welcomed by others. While there are many downfalls of social media and its use, there are some

benefits to using social media, and not everything is negative. The trick, however, is to capture

the positive benefits without falsifying or narrowing one's identity

While social media can make a dream a reality, it has also allowed users to connect with

each other over vast distances and to show interest in the lives of people who would otherwise go

unnoticed, lending them social support. By giving people the ability to connect, we are allowing

them to fill the unmet social support that many individuals desire. Social media has also allowed

users to show their creativity in almost any form across any platform, giving users the ability to

spread their message out into the world, both good and bad. Social media also gives the average

user a platform in which they can devote hours of their day in order to pass the time, gain

inspiration, and so much more.

The results of this research indicate that there are definite reasons for a user only to

portray a part of themselves on social media sites, however, there is no simple solution that

applies to everyone in order to solve this issue. This research does show that we need to alter the

mindset of all social media users from personal gain and popularity to collective wellbeing and

general social support. For most users, this is moving from posting photos of products and

possessions to sharing ways to help people in need such as children's hospitals and current world

affairs. It is apparent that social media has many benefits, and while those benefits seem great,

the downsides can be quite damaging. It is impossible to keep people from using social media as

they are free beings, but what we can do is use it for good instead of personal gain. Users must

be willing to step outside of their normal routines and focus on what may be beneficial to others.

Instead of seeing posts and not liking them because they are not popular enough, lend them some

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support and drop some love. Currently, a lot is users are pushing to help each other in the

direction of global wellbeing, with celebrities getting involved in global affairs and spreading

messages. If all users can keep this trend going and actively seek to support the community as a

whole, social media has a bright future ahead and so does its influencers.

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