Practices of self-presentation in the Internet space: forms and trends

Abstract

Due to modern mobility, as well as the specifics of means of communication there is a large number of people who follow the person and form opinions about him or her, relying mainly on the value of the material plan (to some extent, also on education) that the person can demonstrate, knowing about the tracking. Individualization, as a globalization trend, puts the demand of a person - to live original. Therefore, the actions that are aimed at forming an image, are based primarily on the self-presentation. Modern person is being disconnected from traditional social ties, which is facilitated by changes in the opportunities of social communication. The modern person lacks the communication face to face, but they are replaced by Internet communications. The social network has evolved into a media environment, which is an instrument for self-development, expression, and the design of personal identity. Although the tools for presenting their personality in social networks are still unified and have limitations, they allow the person to create quite a lot of individual images, depending on what the user wants to achieve and how rich his imagination is. The identity is changed, the practice of the self-presentation is changed - a person begins to form his or her own ‘I’ on the basis of the seen, borrowing or copying the images of others (while consuming new media products). Virtual communication also has a number of specific features. Among them there are a large selection of «tools» which can help to form personal identity, lack of physical contact, participants of such communication may not know each other. It gives huge opportunities for presenting yourself to a «virtual environment» and other users of an internet resource. Selfization becomes the popular practice of self-presentation thanks to photographs. Through selfies the person creates and improves his image for public consumption. «Virtual» self-presentation strategies that shape certain images can be different - depending on what the user prefers. Above mentioned strategies are based on the formation of images that appeal to the public: knowledgeable in their business, successful in the profession, sociable, such that belongs to a certain group, good in the physical plane, etc.