Who will I be today?

How is identity formed? 

Our families, communities, genders, class, political views, beliefs, sub-cultures and interests have somewhat everything to do with who we are. Although we may be these people, does that mean we can't be anyone else? 

We present ourselves in the way we want to be identified as, rather than who we actually are when it comes social media. Our own identity is often shadowed over by society’s stereotypical ideas of how we should be, but also by past experiences of our relatives and peers. Social networking is a main example of (RE)-self-presentation as we update who we are. Facebook is today’s most popular source of social networking, and this allows us to hide, expand and change our identity.

If we were to take a step into the past and re-read our old status updates, see the photos and the random groups that we liked, we would see how much we have changed from one person to another. This is may be considered as growing up as our interests and choice of lifestyle adjust continuously but changing our interests in one thing but changing our whole personality is another.

Goffman said :"Sex, age, race are extremely difficult to conceal or manipulate in face to face interaction. Although the rest - clothing, posture, speech pattern, facial expression, body gesture and relatively more manipulable."

Social media gives a chance to become someone different. Chat rooms allow members to talk differently to how they would it real life. We can have so many split personalities online. Are you a flirty, girly, up for a good time girl or really are you shy, but mask yourself over with this new image. Are you really as aggressive as you think, public online social fights but in reality would it actually happen?

If a profile photo is of you and friends, was that just because you liked it, or subconsciously to show you have friends, attempting to show and possibly gain popularity?

We have to opportunity to tag and un-tag images and videos now, therefore if we do not like the photo we can easily remove it which suggests vanity and wanting to appear as good as possible to others. 

You have a bad hair day, a friend caught you on camera.. NO NO NO that does not stay on your profile.

It is not just networking. Gaming have options for character choice, therefore we are able to reform our self image to something more 'warrior' like. Xbox gaming communities allow tags and names to express how you think you are, or could be. Self (RE)-presentation is said to be 'A romantic spy-story into infosphere'. Characters are the behind the computer who set the stages of the action. The audience complying with these stories are able to interact with characters and create more fiction.

"The postmodern conception of identity is indeed very seductive and theatrical; it suggests that we can never know ourselves and are in a perceptual state of becoming." - Tanya Kryzuinska

'On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog' - The New Yorker

It is a strange feeling knowing we can change our identities, not completely but they are adjustable. We can hide who we actually are, or we can express it.  In reality we may be completely opposite, or exactly the same but through social media, you can be whoever you want. Just get yourself a personal homepage, add some colour and photos, talk away and see who you become.