Online Self-presentation Research Articles

Unveiling the "Toxic" World of #Meanspo: Understanding Users' Emerging Online Eating Disorder Practices in X/Twitter

Meanspo, an antagonistic form of online support within the eating disorder (ED) community, involves the direct solicitation or sharing of aggressive and insulting online content. This study presents findings from a comprehensive qualitative analysis of #meanspo content on X (previously Twitter ) from May 2020 (N=752). Our analysis of tweets reveals that posts tagged with #meanspo can be of various natures. While commonly associated with extremely derogatory ED content, more than 80% of posts with the meanspo tag on X were non-aggressive. The study also explores potential inconsistencies in voluntary and involuntary meanspo specific content moderation, prompting inquiries into X's regulatory policies against such content and the distinct online self-presentation strategies employed by community members. Future contextual research is needed to understand the evolving nature of this social phenomenon and its potential clinical impacts on users over time, particularly concerning the unhealthy adoption of such content. TRIGGER WARNING: Explicit language & potentially triggering content.

Flying high and breaking stigma: a social identity perspective on Chinese frisbee participants

ABSTRACT The growing popularity of frisbee sport in China has brought both recognition and stigmatisation. Rooted in the social identity perspective, this study employs in-depth interviews and participatory observation to explore this phenomenon, creating a multifaceted analytical framework that includes affective commitment, self-categorisation, group self-esteem and self-expansion. The study finds that the primary manifestations of frisbee stigmatisation encompass the heightened online attention and scrutiny, conflicts due to limited playing venues, misconceptions from one-sided sport perceptions, and controversies around its use for blind dates. Moreover, the study reveals that frisbee community members employ diverse strategies to counteract stigma, such as positive confrontation, ignoring or humorously resolving stigmatisation, selective online self-presentation, and converting opponents into supporters. This research contributes to the field of leisure studies by offering a deeper understanding of how leisure sports identities are negotiated in the context of societal prejudices. Furthermore, it provides practical insights for fostering resilience, promoting a positive sports culture, and encouraging a healthier approach to leisure sports among youth, potentially minimising the negative impact of stigma on emerging leisure sports activities.

The intersection of “real” and “reel”: An investigation of K-pop idol dual self-presentation, paid advertisements, and fan engagement

K-pop idols meticulously manage their public image on social media by blending aspects of professional and personal self-presentation, occasionally incorporating paid advertisements. This research aims to investigate these strategies on idols’ personal Instagram accounts and their impacts on fans. Two studies were conducted. In Study 1, a content analysis of the ten most recent Instagram posts from 26 K-pop idols revealed a combination of both self-presentation types with a slightly higher prevalence of personal one. One-fourth of the posts contained paid advertisements, and they were more prevalent in professional self-presentation. Posts featuring personal self-presentation garnered significantly more likes and comments, and so did posts without paid advertisements. Study 2, an online experiment with 240 Korean Instagram users, compared professional and personal self-presentation with and without paid advertisement. The results showed that paid advertisement significantly influenced perceptions of the idol, diminishing perceived authenticity, professionalism, and para-social relationship. In contrast, professional self-presentation heightened only perceived professionalism compared to personal self-presentation. Engagement intentions did not significantly differ between self-presentation types but were lowered by paid advertisement indirectly through reduced perceived para-social relationship. This research highlights the complex dynamics of online self-presentation, fan engagement, and the potential drawbacks of commercialization in K-pop.

Feeling phony online – The impostor phenomenon's link to online self-presentation, self-esteem, and social network site use

This study examined the relationship between the impostor phenomenon, self-esteem, online self-presentation, and social network site usage across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Tinder. The sample consisted of n = 541 individuals (46 % men; Mage = 27, SDage = 8.5). In addition to demographics, quantitative social network site use metrics, and self-esteem, the impostor expression emerged as an incremental predictor for the online self-presentation facets adaptable self (β = 0.26, p < .001), authentic self (β = −0.29, p < .001) and freedom of self online (β = 0.25, p < .001). Self-esteem partially mediated the impostor expression's effect on the authentic self. Findings suggest that a high impostor expression links to lower online authenticity, higher online self-adaption, and a preference for online communication and self-presentation.

Online self-presentation: Psychological predictors and outcomes

Internet technology has changed the way we interact, and online communication has become increasingly common. There is a need to know more about how individuals present and behave online. The study examined relationships between perfectionism (self-oriented, socially prescribed, other-oriented), online self-presentation types (idealised self, multiple selves and consistent self), cyberbullying experiences (victimisation and perpetration) and psychological outcomes (rumination and depressive symptoms). An online questionnaire measuring these variables was completed by 139 general population adults (91.2 % from the UK, 73 % female; age range 17–70 years; Mean = 33.32 SD = 13.76). Regression analysis showed a role of self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism in idealised self and multiple selves online presentation. Further, self-presentation was related to individuals’ likelihood to engage in cyberbullying as a perpetrator. Finally, self-presentation and cyberbullying perpetration were predictive of rumination and depressive symptoms. The findings provide insight into adults’ online behaviour and related outcomes thus contributing to our understanding of the psychology within online interactions.

Students' impression management and self-presentation behaviours via online educational platforms: An archival review

Across global higher education contexts, students and staff are communicating online. Online communication is facilitated by the online disinhibition effect (reduction of nonverbal cues eases communication) and in turn this may make online self-presentation (behaviours used to present a desired version of the self) easier. Students may be utilising online self-presentation techniques to facilitate online communication with staff. We know that online self-presentation techniques can be advantageous, but where inappropriate they may be detrimental to the student-staff relationship. This study explores whether students are using self-presentation techniques when they communicate online with staff via an archival review of both private (e-mail messages) and public (Moodle forum posts) online educational environments. Through a deductive thematic analysis we identify that students are indeed using online self-presentation techniques but that these vary depending on whether the online educational environment is private or public. This is the first study to explore this topic via an archival review and we encourage future research to consider the role of online self-presentation techniques within student-staff communication.

Investigating translanguaging strategies and online self-presentation through internet slang on Douyin (Chinese TikTok)

Abstract This study explores the translanguaging strategies used in internet slang on Douyin, a popular social media platform in China. By analyzing 331 examples (encompassing 313 translanguaging strategies), we investigate how individuals utilize various translanguaging resources, including multimodal, multilingual, multisemiotic, and multisensory resources, to manage their online self-presentation. Our findings suggest that multilingual resources, such as new Chinglish, Pinyin initialism, and hybrid words (combining Chinese, English, and Arabic numerals), were the most frequently used strategies. Additionally, we found that multisensory resources, including homophonic puns and modal particles, were also commonly utilized. In contrast, multimodal resources, such as emojis, and multisemiotic resources, such as keyboard-generated emoticon, hashtag, and punctuation mark, were less frequently employed. These findings reveal that Chinese internet users display a high degree of creativity and adaptability in their online communication, drawing on a wide range of linguistic and semiotic resources to express their identities and project their desired image. Overall, this study highlights the importance of translanguaging in online communication and its role in shaping self-presentation in the digital age.

Exploring university students’ online self-presentation techniques and self-disclosure behaviors as predictors of staff response

Online educational platforms (e.g., Microsoft Outlook and Moodle) are integrated within higher education communication. Predominantly aged 18-24 years, university students have only ever known a digitally connected world and communicating online is a core component of their reality. Higher education students and staff are thus regularly communicating online. Online self-presentation techniques and online self-disclosure behaviors are required to communicate online. The online disinhibition effect elevates the risk of over-disclosure. Students may be drawing upon online self-presentation techniques and self-disclosure behaviors to communicate with staff via online educational platforms; this may be useful and result in informative responses from staff, or this could be unsuccessful (particularly if students over-disclose) and result in less informative responses from staff. To explore this, a mixed methods approach has been adopted within this study drawing upon 100 Moodle forum posts and 100 emails between students and staff at one U.K. higher education institution. A deductive thematic analysis identifies occurrences of students online self-presentation techniques and self-disclosure behaviors, and staff’s content disclosure (informativeness of responses). A path analysis then explores the predictive relationship between these components. Findings are the first to highlight that students are indeed utilizing online self-presentation techniques and self-disclosure behaviors via online educational platforms, and that these do predict the informativeness of staff response. Importantly, these findings should be used to support students in how to effectively communicate with staff via online educational platforms, and to educate staff in considerations of how they respond.

Who’s Viewing My Post? Extending the Imagined Audience Process Model Toward Affordances and Self-Disclosure Goals on Social Media

This study investigates how individuals use the imagined audience to navigate context collapse and self-presentational concerns on Instagram. Drawing on the imagined audience process model, we analyze how structural (i.e., social media affordances) and individual factors (i.e., self-disclosure goals) impact the imagined audience composition along four dimensions: size, diversity, specificity, and perceived closeness. In a retrospective diary study of U.S. Instagram users, we compared the imagined audiences on Instagram posts versus Stories ( n = 1,270). Results suggested that channel ephemerality predicted a less diverse and less close imagined audience; however, channel ephemerality interacted with self-disclosure goals to predict imagined audience composition. Imagined audience closeness was positively related to disclosure intimacy, but size, diversity, and specificity were unassociated. This study advances communication theory by describing how affordances and disclosure goals intersect to predict the imagined audience construction and online self-presentation.

Please look at me? Connecting self esteem and online self-presentation among teenagers on social media instagram

The evolving landscape of social media in the present day contributes to the revitalization of social relationship. The use of social media platforms continues to integrate into adolescents of life and essential for identity development. Adolescentes have a need for self-existence, and social media serves as a medium to fulfil this need within their friendship circles. This research aims to seek the relationship between self-esteem and online self-representation among adolescents who use instagram. This study employed quantitative approach with correlation method. The data were collected using two instruments: a self-esteem scale and online self-representation scale. The respondents of this research were 154 adolescents in MAN Bangkalan. The analysis was conducted using simple regression. The results showed that the self-esteem had a significant effect on online self-representation, resulting in meaningful contribution of 6%.

Navigating virtual selves: validation of the German version of the presentation of online self scale.

The Presentation of Online Self Scale for Adults (POSSA), originally developed by Strimbu et al. is a well-regarded instrument for assessing online self-presentation. This study evaluated the factorial structure, reliability, and validity of the German adaptation of POSSA. A CFA analysis confirmed a satisfactory fit for the proposed three-factor model, as evidenced by a CFI of 0.919, a TLI of 0.902 and a RSMEA of 0.075. The subscales of the German POSSA demonstrated high internal consistency. Additionally, convergent validity was established through significant correlations with the Impostor-Profile 30 (IPP), affirming the interpretive accuracy of the subscale scores. Specifically, the Adaptable Self and Freedom of Self Online subscales positively correlated with IPP measures of Alienation and Other-Self-Divergence, whereas the Authentic Self subscale inversely correlated with these measures. Moreover, the German POSSA scores accounted for variance in the number of Instagram followers, surpassing the predictive power of self-esteem alone. Notably, the Adaptable Self factor was positively associated with the follower count, while the Freedom of Self Online factor displayed a negative association. Collectively, these findings underscore the DE-POSSA as a robust tool for assessing self-presentation behaviors in German-speaking populations and highlight its potential for cross-cultural research in online interpersonal interactions.

For Your Page TikTok: The Influence of Self-Esteem on Online Self-Presentation in Teenagers

The existence of TikTok is often used to present oneself virtually. However, this virtual appearance can cause individuals to attempt to commit appearance fraud or lying self-presentation, which they believe can affect their self-esteem as the best version of themselves. This research aims to determine the influence of self-esteem on online self-presentation among adolescent users of the TikTok application in Tasikmalaya Regency. The design of this research uses a correlational quantitative approach. The sampling technique used in this research was a non-probability sampling method with an accidental sampling type and obtained a sample of 537 research subjects. This research uses two scales adapted by researchers, including the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) to measure self-esteem and The Presentation of Online-Self Scale (POSS) to measure online self-presentation. The data analysis technique uses simple linear regression. This study's results show that self-esteem significantly influences online self-presentation among teenage TikTok users in Tasikmalaya Regency (t equals 27.154; p equals 0.01 less than 0.05; R2 equals 0.020). This research concludes that the lower self-esteem, the higher online self-presentation in adolescents. In this case, self-esteem contributes to online self-presentation by 2 percent.

Filtering the I From the Ideal: Examining Preadolescents’ Online Self-Presentation in Relation to Their Perceived Attractiveness

Social media use among preadolescents continues to increase each year. The current cross-sectional study examined how preadolescents’ different (i.e., authentic and inauthentic) online presentation strategies, as well as the social feedback these representations receive, are associated with their perceived attractiveness. The results of our study ( n = 638; 52.4% girls, 9–13 years, Mage = 10.94, SDage = 0.85) showed that more truthful online self-presentation practices coincided with feeling more positive about one’s appearance. A significant moderation effect was found for social feedback, with the association becoming stronger as levels of online feedback (e.g., online popularity, likes, comments, and tags by other users) increased. Contrary to our expectations, inauthentic self-presentation was negatively related to preadolescents’ perceived attractiveness, while no significant interaction effect with online feedback was found.

“I hear you like bad girls? I’m bad at everything”: a British-Spanish cross-cultural analysis of humour as a self-presentation strategy in Tinder profiles

This article explores humour employed as a self-presentation device in the biography section of Tinder profiles belonging to heterosexual users (male and female) in their 20s based in Spain and the United Kingdom. The main purpose of this investigation is to find out if male or female users are more prone to resorting to humour in their Tinder profiles and if the culture within which this interaction takes place also affects the frequency of use of humorous remarks. More specifically, we intend to answer the following research questions: (i) To what extent does gender influence the use of humour as an online self-presentation strategy?, (ii) To what extent does the users’ cultural context play a role in the frequency and way humour is employed? To that purpose, a total of 455 Tinder profiles from both Spanish (224) and UK (231) users was gathered with the help of a bot, Tinderbotz, and it was then analysed quantitatively and qualitatively with the assistance of the software program Atlas.ti. The results show that UK users favour humour as a self-presentation strategy in a significantly higher percentage than their Spanish counterparts, independently of their gender. Thus, while Spanish-speakers may regard humour as a risky mechanism that can backfire, UK users embrace it as part of the Anglo-Saxon ethos of not taking oneself too seriously.

Panggung Depan Media Sosial: Peranan Narcissistic personality dan Media Richness terhadap Online Self-Presentation Usia Emerging Adulthood

Social media is a platform that can facilitate individuals to present themselves online. Besides being able to have a positive impact on users, self-presentation online on social media also has a negative impact, especially for adult users who are in the transition phase from adolescence to adulthood. This study aims to examine the effect of narcissistic personality and media richness on online self-presentation in adulthood. This study uses impression management theory to explain online self-presentation. There were 281 participants in this study with an age range of 18-24 years and active Instagram users. The measurement tools used are Presentation of Online Self-Scale Adult (POSSA), Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-13), and Measure of Media Richness. Data analysis technique using multiple linear regression. The results of the study indicate that there is a simultaneous influence of narcissistic personality and media richness on online self-presentation. In addition, it was also partially found that narcissistic personality can affect self-presentation online, as well as media richness which is also found to affect self-presentation online.

How different online self-presentations relate to different online feedback among adolescents: peer relationship as a mediator

How different online self-presentations relate to different online feedback among adolescents: peer relationship as a mediator

Social Utilitarianism in Digital Interactions and Distant Worlds

Online social networks are increasingly consequential in individuals’ professional and personal lives, as many people engage online to create and maintain meaningful relationships and satisfy their needs for social connection. People tend to curate their online representations (profile pictures for different websites, videogame avatars, bitmojis, profile page bios, etc.) with almost as much regularity as their corporeal (real-world) self-presentation. As such, the current study explored the socially utilitarian choices people make when presenting themselves in both the corporeal and virtual public spheres. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing various aspects of their self-presentation and behavior in real-life, social media, and online videogames. We found several differences in self-presentation strategies in both online and offline contexts based primarily on ethnoracial background, sex, and skin tone. Minority women (particularly Multiracial women) reported dyeing their hair significantly more than White women, and the overwhelming majority reported dyeing their hair a lighter color than their natural hair color. Women use more emojis and exclamation points in emails and digital interactions than men, and they are more likely to use skin lightening filters before posting a selfie on social media. In addition, we found a descriptive pattern indicating that straight women and bisexual women dating men use more filters than lesbians and bisexual women dating women. Finally, in online videogames, men who are below average height reported creating videogame avatars that were taller than they were, individuals with darker skin tones reported creating avatars with skin tones lighter than their own, and introverts reported that they pretend to be extroverted in videogames more than extroverts reported pretending to be introverted. This study highlights the importance of online self-presentation on people’s social lives and the strategies that people utilize to align how they believe they are socially perceived with a more idealized version of themselves, or a version of themselves that will confer greater social capital than what they believe they naturally embody. Given the increasing possibilities of identity customization in the virtual public sphere, further research is needed to fully understand the complex relationship between online and offline self-presentation.

Online Self-Presentation and Braggadocian Behavior in Millennials

Social media is a form of technological development that gives rise to a new behavior called braggadocios behavior, which is often characterized by always uploading status/tweets to show how cool and famous someone is. In addition, social media is one of the new social platforms where someone will try to create their desired impression, which is called, online self-presentation. The millennial is the generation that is most familiar with social media. Because they like the form of interaction in it. The purpose of this research is to find out the relationship between online self-presentation and braggadocios behavior in the millennial generation. This study is using a quantitative method with correlational analysis. The research subjects are Semarang State University students spread across the Faculty of Education, Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Languages ​​and Arts, and the Faculty of Law with a total of 347 subjects. Spearman Rho is used to analyze data that were collected. The results showed that the hypothesis can be accepted, with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.853 with a significance level of 0.000. This means that there is a positive relationship between online self-presentation and braggadocios behavior in the millennial generation. The bridging aspect between both variables is multiple identities, which consist of the identity from birth (ethnicity, religion, and gender) and artificial identity. Media users will emphasize artificial identity and make it an ideal self.

Examining retweeting behavior on social networking sites from the perspective of self-presentation.

On social networking sites, people can express themselves in a variety of ways such as creating personalized profiles, commenting on some topics, sharing their experiences and thoughts. Among these technology-enabled features, retweeting other-sourced tweet is a powerful way for users to present themselves. We examine users' retweeting behavior from the perspective of online identity and self-presentation. The empirical results based on a panel dataset crawled from Twitter reveal that, people are prone to retweet topics they are interested in and familiar with, in order to convey a consistent and clear online identity. In addition, we also examine which user groups exhibit a stronger propensity for a clear online identity, considering the practical value of these users to both social media platforms and marketers. By integrating self-presentation theory with social influence theory and social cognitive theory, we propose and confirm that users with higher value in online self-presentation efficacy and users who are more involved with the social media platform have a stronger than average propensity to maintain a consistent online identity, and thus are more likely to retweet familiar topics. These users are characterized by (1) owning a larger number of followers, (2) authoring longer and more original tweets than average, (3) being active in retweeting other-sourced posts. This study contributes to our understanding of SNS users' retweeting behavior and adds to the emerging line of research on online identity. It also provides insights on how microblogging service providers and enterprises can promote people's retweeting behavior.

Adolescents Intentions of Self-presentation on Social Media

With the development of the Internet and the innovation of mobile network technology, the advent of the social network era has broken the time and space constraints in the traditional social mode, changed the traditional social mode, and extended the interpersonal interaction in people's daily life to the virtual space. The difference between the social network and traditional Internet interaction is that it not only allows strangers to meet and communicate with each other, but it also aims to make a virtual social platform to generate a mapping with real-life interpersonal relationships and make this mapping visible. The social network builds an equal, open, and decentralized communication platform for users. Everyone becomes a creator and communicator instead of a passive recipient and provides a platform for each user to present themselves. In this research, in order to study the impacts on adolescents' online self-presentation intentions, Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and media use frequency are regarded as independent variables to measure their behavioral intentions. Besides, a questionnaire was conducted randomly in 529 samples from Suzhou and Tianjin, China, of which only 206 samples were about adolescents. Then, the data were analyzed via SPSS. The results show that there is a positive relationship between online self-presentation motive and attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavior control, and media use frequency. Whats more, the other-related areas can testify to these results.