Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
This marks a shift from the earlier 'virtual-
ity' discourses of the Internet which perceived
anonymity and the ability to transform identities
online as a form of empowerment whilst raising
the tenuous issues of trust, intimacy and deception.
The increasing popularity of social networking
sites, on the other hand, emphasizes the narcis-
sistic tendency in the human condition manifested
through an exhibition of the self through photos
and other multimedia content. The publicizing of
personal details on a global arena for public spec-
tacle creates new ways of connecting and gazing
into the lives of others. It raises new social issues
for societies, including the rise of identity fraud,
infringement of privacy, the seeking of private
pleasures through public spectacle, as well as the
validation of one's identity through peer recog-
nition, connection and consumption online. The
ability to connect with offline networks through
online self-profiles and content and additionally
the possibility of inviting audiences to be part
of the 'friends' list celebrates the declaration of
offline identities.
The politics of self-revelation on the Internet
creates the need to understand new forms of
computer-mediated behavior which are emerging
and may have implications for the ways in which
users construct and express their identities. The
creation of profiles and the ability to make con-
nections through these constructs indicate how
these become a form of social capital in forming
connections and communion with a wider imag-
ined community offline and online. This chapter
examines the phenomenon of self-exposure
through social networking sites on the Internet
and discusses how the emergence and popular-
ity of these sites reflects a shift in debates about
identity discourses on the Internet on a theoretical
and societal level. The chapter also delves into the
social and legal implications of self-revelation
and, more specifically, how social networking
sites create risk communities where an aware-
ness of risks exists along with the urge to reveal
in order to make contact and connections with
others. Social networking sites function through
complicit risk communities which highlights both
the narcissistic strand as well as the postmodern
hazards that lurk in the online environment.
the eArly disCourses
oF the internet
The term
cyberspace
was coined by science fiction
writer William Gibson in 1982 to capture the nature
of a space both real and illusory. This duality is one
of the fundamental reasons why investigations of
online spaces are complex and multi-dimensional.
Early writings on the Internet portrayed the new
medium as constituting a virtual space which was
divorced from offline existence (Miller and Slater,
2000: 4). Miller and Slater (2000) define
virtuality
as the capacity of communicative technologies to
constitute, rather than mediate, realities and to
form relatively bounded spheres of interaction.
These discourses often portrayed the emergence
of new forms of society and identity (Rheingold,
2000) in which the 'virtual was often disembodied
from the real' (Miller and Slater, 2000: 4). This
disembodiment represented a form of escapism
from real society where individuals could invent,
deconstruct, and re-invent their identities.As such,
cyberspace created fluidity in terms of identity
as well as a form of release from the confines of
the real world.
From this perspective Computer Mediated
Communication (CMC) represents an unusual
form of communication, as it does not fit into
the conventional distinctions between public and
private, and direct and mediated communication.
(Diani, 2000: 386). CMC stands in a somewhat
ambiguous relationship to other forms of commu-
nication. Its private and public nature is unclear.
In line with the nature of communications on the
Internet, there is also the question of how people
establish identities in cyberspace. Because of
the fact that we are not physically present on the
Internet and because we can present many dif-
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