Online Identity in Social Media

The Internet and social media consist an inextricable part of our everyday life. Everyone is using them in their free time either for fun or for working materials. But now we see that social media are a mean of expression, feelings and show of their personal and social identities. The American sociologist Erving Goffman talked about the dramaturgical approach to Identity and focused people communicate the Self through their public behavior and in different public settings.

The main idea of Goffman is that identity is flexible and adjustable, so as people are skilled in order to vary their self-presentation in an appropriate way. So, people are able to present themselves in a different way based on where they are (context) and who they are with (audience), in order to manage and fix their identities, to produce certain impressions on others.

Goffman’s theory has also been applicable online, as is adaptable to digital media and to the possibilities that social media platforms offer for active strategies of identity-building. More specifically, his theory explains why and how people behave and form connections online and why they fix themselves in order to be more appealing to their audience.

A. Alexandros Kopsialis – YouTuber (YouTube)

Alexandros Kopsialis is a 31-year-old youtuber-influencer, who owns his personal account on YouTube platform and produce content. His  main job is taking interviews with celebrities inside his car and upload them into his channel. His account on YouTube counts 470.000 subscribers and he has also a dynamic audience through Instagram too.

B. Christina Mpompa – Digital Creator (Instagram)

A 34-year-old persona that she is doing business through online platforms and more specifically through Instagram. She uploads her posts and stories almost every day and through them she informs her audience about new products or services, promotes her’s and her husband’s business and also doing  giveaways or competitions in collaboration with companies, that she comes in contact with. On Instagram she has 738.000 followers and her target audience is mainly women aged 18 – 35.

C. Eleni Foureira – Singer (Tik Tok)

The 36-year-old Eleni Foureira, is considered as the most talented, beautiful and gifted singer today in Greece with a huge success so in Greece as in America too. She is differentiated from the other artists due to her appearance, her choreographies and her personality. Eleni Foureira is an active member through her social media accounts, especially Tik Tok, (she owns the second place of the top Greek TikTokers), where she uploads videos from her choreographies, from her collaborations and from her interviews in magazines. Her personal account numbers 423.000 followers and her target audience is mainly teenage girls and young women.

All the above-mentioned cases form examples of how Goffman’s theory is applicable online. Based on Goffman’s dramaturgical approach, there are two types of behavior, the front stage (is about the public and visible to others) and back stage behavior (the private moments and the preparation for the public appearances). These cases are linked with this theory, as in each case the performer has to be prepared first and has his/her private moments before and then his/her public performance.