Date of Award

6-1-2009

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences

First Advisor

Derigan Silver, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Renee Botta

Third Advisor

Rodney Buxton

Fourth Advisor

Lynn Clark

Fifth Advisor

Fran Dickson

Keywords

Facebook, Identity, MySpace, SNS, Teen

Abstract

Based on in-depth interviews, this thesis examines how teens use Social Networking Sites (SNSs) to negotiate their identities. The thesis concludes that SNSs, such as MySpace and Facebook, facilitate a social connectivity that influences how teens portray themselves online. The process of constructing a self-presentation, receiving input from peers, and then modifying one's self-presentation in response is not new, but the speed at which it occurs and the very public way it is displayed on an SNS constitutes a change in how teens understand the ways in which they make and constantly remake their identities. The findings suggest that, as previous literature has noted, SNSs are pervasive and ubiquitous in the lives of teens. However, it also concludes that SNSs are not uniform and that teens use SNSs differently, an aspect of SNSs previous literature has not consistently addressed. The thesis posits that whereas MySpace serves as a means for representation, Facebook is primarily a tool for group communication, and a recent migration from Facebook to MySpace reveals the importance of group membership and group connectivity to teen identity. In addition, the thesis finds the teens' SNSs' pages are reflections of identity that are in large part reactions to others' perceptions of the identities displayed on profile pages, as well as attempts to reflect an authentic identity. These concepts are particularly well represented by the idea of identity as bricolage, the ongoing process of constructing and deconstructing, submitting and omitting, and organizing of mediated communication to present an online identity.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Alexis Lynn

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

105 p.

Discipline

Mass communication

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