Social Networking Sites (SNS) are promoted as places to build networks of friends and stay in touch with friends, family and acquaintances. However, the nature of the sites featuring a digitalized presentation of self and a public display of connections lead many users to treat the domain as a performance space. Often, "displays can be done as a way of gaining social capital" (Donath, Boyd 2004, 72) and this is no more clearly displayed than by an analysis of the list of social connections on many users profiles. Many users will deliberately aim to gain notoriety by displaying connections with high profile acquaintances whether or not they have a real connection or relationship with those people outside of an online environment. This performance is not limited though to ones display of social connections. Many users also perform via their behaviour in the online space with "some exchanges, constructed with an awareness of the users beyond the glass walls and play to them, exchanging information and ideas using common signs and symbols" (Pearson 2009). This equally promotes the users depiction of self, rather than the true self that exists away from the online sphere. It is clear then that while SNS provide platforms for users to interact with others and promote online versions of themselves to their extended network, those depictions may be more of a performance piece than a true representation of the user’s identity.
References:
Donath, J and D, Boyd. 2004. Public Displays of Connection. BT Technology Journal, 22 (4): 71-82.
Pearson, E. 2009. All the World Wide Web’s a stage: the Performance of Identity in Online Social Networks. First Monday, 14 (3)
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