Facebook, Hypermediacy, Performance and Interaction Essay

While always being a concept extremely difficult to coherently and comprehensively define or describe, identity becomes increasingly elusive in our postmodern era, especially since the advent of the Internet and the wide range of possibilities created by this vast informational network. In our â€Å"global village†, a new form of identity must be added to the previous taxonomies (Giddens Anthony). One in which relativity and fluidity have become significantly more essential, in order to understand and describe it then was the case with its predecessors. This is what is usually called online or digital identity. This concept is strongly connected with that of online or virtual communities, â€Å"spaces† of social interaction in which the concept of â€Å"mediation† plays a central role. Even though, as Giddens states, â€Å"Virtually all human experience is mediated – through socialization and in particular the acquisition of language† not until the advent of the informational era did mediation play such an important role in human communication (Giddens, 23). As McLuhan clearly states: â€Å"The medium is the message†, one of the essential features in understanding the concept of online identity (McLuhan Marshall, 7). Various forms such an identity takes in the context of a specific online community, a social network called Facebook, are analyzed in this essay. Though there are detectable negative sociological implications to Facebook concerning privacy and online identity, (DON’T ANNOUNCE LIKE THIS. STATE YOUR THESIS, NOT THAT YOU WILL IDENTIFY SOMETHING BUT EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT TO PROVE the research here will identify ) the online network isIS largely sociologically beneficial by providing a positive forum for social planning, community organization and general communication. OTHERWISE, THE THESIS LOO9KS GOOD, JUST STICK TO THE PLAN IN IT Facebook’s initial model revolved primarily around the â€Å"courtship† of those directly affiliated with universities. Facebook was launched on â€Å"February 4, 2004 and until September 11, 2006,† it was comprised entirely of individuals with active university email addresses, with high schools and corporations soon being added to the mix (Wikipedia). Today, Facebook is a network accessible to anybody with a valid email address. However, Facebook’s operational premise requires people to display certain details regarding themselves that will allow them to be located by friends. Certainly, an increasingly valid use of Facebook has been its role in reconnecting lapsed friendships or acquaintances. Therefore, DON’T USE ‘WE’ UNLESS YOU ARE A TEAM OF SCIENTISTS. a s our discussion turns into AND YOU ARE ANNOUNCING AGAIN ) IN THE recognition of the identity management issues related to this legal and valid self-presentation will related directly to , user preferences will be a relevant factorpreferences. Therefore, much of the theoretical conceptualization here will revolve on this understanding that in spite of opportunities for elastic identity management, this network remains, at least for the time being, a â€Å"space† in which online and legal identities are connected (Giddens). This feature will bring about very interesting issues concerning the form and nature of the online identity exhibited on Facebook. Particular issues are those concerning the choices which individuals are able to make in the Facebook context which help to formulate identity in ways which may differ in the purpose and functionality from identity strategies in traditional social spheres. This points to some of the main differences between traditional and online identity, with the latter creating certain freedoms from physicality. One can choose or bypass certain visual images, can report or leave out certain biographical facts and can generally craft an identity which is less dependent on day to day interactions. VAGUE. WHAT ARE THESE ISSUES? , AND WHAT EXACTLY IS THE FORM AND NATURE OF THE ONLINE IDENTIY? STATE IT HERE. Another factor of determinant importance in understanding the sociological impact of Facebook is its representation of McLuhan’sS EXPLAIN WHO HE WAS â€Å"global village. † Marshall McLuhan is one of the preeminent theorists in communication and media studies, and through the 1950s and 1960s, would command a great deal of foresight in identifying the behaviors of future media systems. In his global village theory, McLuhan envisioned, a space in which the magnitude of globalization and especially its protean forms of cultural exchange couldan be experienced on a personalized level. Since Facebook has been traditionally grounded within university-based networks, many of these already possessing defined international profiles, one can now begin to experience on a virtual level the powerful dynamics of globalization as they have been implicated by technological transition. Individuals create personal networks of contacts which reflect and, sometimes, even expand the international environment in which they pursued their studies. (Ellison, 1143)SOURCE? Before going further in the analysis of the concept of identity on Facebook, one should analyze the notion of profile, YOUR OUTLINE REFERS TO ‘OBJECTS’. CLARIFY THAT THERE IS A CONNECTION BETWEEN PROFILE AND OBJECT – OR AM I WRONG IN ASSUMING THERE IS ONE the online representation of the individual. Firstly, one should take into account the distinction within Facebook’s grammar lingo, which provides a distinction DO YOU MEAN ‘LEXIS’? between â€Å"objects and actions†(Giddens, 47). WHO IS THIS? Social theoriest Anthony Giddens here provides the concept which is fully executed by Facebook, in which the identity which one formulates produces a virtual object through which various interactive actions may be executed. The basic object is the profile itself, from which a tree-like structure of other objects, ranging from the â€Å"wall† to pictures, videos, the so-called applications, or plain text, emerges. Therefore, Facebook can be seen as a container of various media, organized within a profile which represents the individual, the â€Å"real† person â€Å"hidden† behind the screen. The profile can be considered a â€Å"virtual body representation of the individual† SOURCE? a representation connected with other profiles, images of other individuals, joined together in various associative networks. (Giddens, 48) The focus is mainly on the tree-like organized strata of media which separates individuals connected on Facebook because it is essential to stress on both the distance and closure between individuals which is created in such instances of communication, the much-discussed (within the context of globalization) â€Å"new spatial logic [†¦ ] the spontaneous dispersion and concentration via information technologies. †(Castells Manuel, 419). In other words, at first one has to notice the separation of the concepts of â€Å"space† and â€Å"place. † in (our CUT THIS) contemporary understanding of THE social landscape. People from various locations can interact on Facebook almost simultaneously. This might be considered as bringing them closer regardless of the physical distance existing between them. Yet, one must always remember to take into consideration also the very â€Å"substance† of the profile: a collage of media, an extension into post-modernity of what Giddens calls one of the â€Å"two basic features of mediated experience in conditions of modernity [†¦ ] the collage effect. † (Giddens 26). In other words, the identity presented by individuals to one another can be considered a highly subjective â€Å"work of art†, creating sometimes large discrepancies between self-identity and the online identity perceived by others. Therefore, in contrast with the disclosure effect WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY ‘CLOSURE EFFECT’? , there is also a distancing effect created by Facebook, an effect which is more elusive mainly because the information is so intensely mediated. The second category ACTUALLY IN YOUR OUTLINE, YOU PUT ACTIONS BEFORE OBJECTS. CHANGE EITHER THE OUTLINE OR THE PARAGRAPH ORDER is that of actions the individual can perform in this virtual environment. First, one â€Å"joins† Facebook, edits his/hers profile, then starts joining various networks or groups, adds friends and so on. An important feature here is closely connected with the object called â€Å"wall† addressed in the previous paragraph and with the action of â€Å"writing† messages on other people’s walls. The distinction between writing on someone’s wall and sending a message is that while the message remains private, visible only to the recipient, the message on the walls is visible to everyone connected to the wall’s â€Å"owner†. It might be considered one of the â€Å"external† features of the exhibited individual. In this way, a metaphorical image of the kind of identity created by Facebook closely resembles the image of the self from Pink Floyd’s conceptual album â€Å"The Wall† – hidden behind a wall. SOURCE? Furthermore, this notion of concealment is transparent also in another action one can perform on Facebook, that of hiding one’s ONE’S very actions, in other words, translating them into the private sphere. In fact, one’s actions are â€Å"published† in a so-called â€Å"News Feed†, a virtual â€Å"newspaper† available to all one’s friends. SOURCE? (Facebook. com, 1) This inclines consideration of the words of the legendary conceptual artist, Andy Warhol. â€Å"’in the future,’ Warhol said, ‘everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes. ’ (Murphy, 1) Today, Andy Warhol, anthe American artist and a central figure in the movement known as Pop art might say, one can become famous on Facebook for far more then 15 minutes. SOURCE? However, as stated before, one can also hide one’s ONE’S actions and can decide not to allow them to be â€Å"published† in the friends’ News Feed. Another important type of actions one can perform on Facebook are the interactive actions. An almost constant and incessant exchange between individuals exists through their profile environment. People are writing on one another’s walls, sending messages, adding comments, sending gifts, comparing themselves with the others through various applications, playing games, virtually being able to perform any action to one another (with the textual Super-Poke, one can â€Å"order someone to write an essay about Facebook† for instance). GOOD EXAMPLE This aspect will be important later on when the essential role ‘the other’ has in creating someone’s identity on Facebook After these initial considerations about the structure and organization of Facebook, it is important, before pursuing further, to turn again to Giddens’ ideas about the nature of identity in the modern era, ideas which can easily be extended to our post-modern context. Giddens considers the self as â€Å"a reflexive project†, which â€Å"is continuous, as well as all-pervasive. † In other words, self-identity becomes a construct, a personal narrative which tries to bring order and meaning from the multiplicity of individual traits and experiences. As he states: A person’s identity is not to be found in behavior, nor – important though it is – in the reactions of others, but in the capacity to keep a particular narrative going. The individual’s biography, if she is to maintain regular interaction with others in the day-to-day world, cannot be wholly fictive. It must continually integrate events which occur in the external world, and sort them into the on-going ‘story’ about the self. (Giddens, 75) From the previous observations regarding the construction of Facebook, one could easily understand why the â€Å"profile† can be considered a narrative, a â€Å"text† through which the individual reflexively creates an identity-image which he/she exhibits in this network. One could apply here the terminology of Arjun Appadurai, one of the founding editors, along with Carol A. Breckenridge, of the journal Public Culture and also the founding Director of the Chicago Humanities Institute at the University of Chicago, GOOD DETAILS ABOUT THE AUTHOR and call the Facebook profile a â€Å"mediascape†. Appadurai defines mediascapes as â€Å"image-centered, narrative-based accounts of strips of reality†, and further on he states that â€Å"what they offer to those who experience and transform them is a series of elements (such as character, plots, and textual forms) out of which scripts can be formed of imagined lives, their own as well as those of others living in other places. † COMMENT ON THIS QUOTE This points to the distinction between online and traditional identity formulation, with the online variation shown to be more directly susceptible to this careful and intentional scripting. The relationship of Facebook to its origins as university community networking site is apparent in one of the distinct values of its usage. There is an indicationIn its early stages, VAGUE. WHAT KIND OF INDICATION? DO YOU MEAN A SURVEY? OR RESEARH? that there are many students who hadve naturally adopted Facebook as a meeting, socializing or communicating forum which unofficially affiliates with the campus community. Therefore Facebook serves in its individual network contexts to give students the capacity to establish their own networking capabilities simultaneously connected to the physical and cultural community comprised by the campus or school itself and yet fully independent and unofficial from the university’s standpoint. This can serve to be a very constructive way for students to relate and organize to their own benefit and, absent of the university’s concerted involvement, to the benefit of its culture, community and collective identity. As Hewitt and Forte observe, â€Å"when online communities begin to complement existing channels for social interaction, aspects of everyday practices are often cast into sharp relief as community members integrate new channels of communication into their everyday lives† (Hewitt and Forte, 1). Serving to strengthen the internal processes by which members of a university community are able to relate to one another separate from the parameters created by the university the online community can be extraordinarily beneficial in diversifying, liberating and even emotionally accommodating the university experience. Individuals with common social, academic or even romantic interests can use university forums to engage one another within the theoretical confines of the school but outside of its official interactive boundaries. GIVE A REAL-LIFE EXAMPLE For many students, something such as Facebook allows for the tangible and observable presentation of a community, which, especially for incoming or socially remote students, can be an important arrow signdoorway to groups, activities and support structures within the university.. WHAT IS AN ARROW SIGN? A SIGN OF WHAT? Thus, Facebook can really help one to bridge the gap between a selected identity and a group with which to identify. Moreover, this is also true of Facebook’s alteration to the sociological process of recovery of lost, lapsed or unrealized relationships, whether social, romantic, professional or even convenience. Accordingly, â€Å"previous research suggests that Facebook users engage in â€Å"searching† for people with whom they have an offline connection more than they â€Å"browse† for complete strangers to meet. † (Ellison, 1144) Still, Ththe informality of the â€Å"friend† tag in Facebook, allows people to establish online friendship with one who might not qualify as an entry in one’s cell phone or a possible consideration for immediate recreational plans. The fact that such â€Å"friendship† does not actually require either participant to â€Å"do† anything other than to approve this friendship, allows for the establishment in many cases of a personal network far larger than one’s physical social network. This is to say that old acquaintances, such as members of one’s high-school graduating class with whom only limited friendly interest is shared, may serve a strictly connective role in one’s network. Their presence in one’s social network will allow one to be seen by other acquaintances and potential ‘friends. ’ This can serve as a positive opportunity to either regenerate lost friendships or even stimulate a friendship where previously only an acquaintanceship existed. GIVE SOME IDEA OF THE EXTENT OF THIS NETWORK, SOME REAL EXAMPLES OR STATISTICS. ALSO INDICATE WHETHER YOU CONSIDER THIS IS A POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE ASPECT. –YOUR THESIS SUGESTTS THE FORMER, BUT YOU NEED TO SAY SO. Furthermore, SURELY THIS IS A NEGATIVE ASPECT, SO YOU SHOULD USE ‘HOWEVER’, NOT ? ’URTHERMORE’. However, there is a perceived exposure simply in one’s involvement with Facebook that might instead be seen negatively. One of the biggest drawbacks to the fact that Facebook creates this explicit connection between real and web identities is the danger that it represents to the user’s privacy. Even as various parameters—sallowing individuals to set privacy terms hiding or only selectively displaying profile details— are set in place to protect the individual from observation or contact by an individual not within one’s friend network, WHAT ARE THESE PARAMETERS? GIVE EXAMPLES there is evidence of vulnerability within the system. It is not particularly difficult for one so determined to procure personal information regarding other Facebook users without the proper authorization. This is a bug WHY A BUG? that was most recently revealed by a British tech company which was intended to expose the site’s susceptibility to willful penetration, with the programming being infiltrated by professional hackers. Thus, â€Å"in less than three hours computer programmers working for the BBC programme Click, developed an application for Facebook which they used to discover the details of four users and all their friends. † (Cockcroft, 1) Facebook, for its part, has indicated through an anonymous source that any such vulnerability would be counter-intuitive veSTRANGE WORD! to the intent of the company and network, and therefore it would work to resolve this particular issue. SOURCE? WHO SAID THIS AND WHAT WERE THEY GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? (Cockcroft, 1) On the other hand, such vulnerability may be seen as a programming bug and not a conceptual failure, with Facebook’s model being dedicated inherently to the protection of privacy details at the user’s discretion.. SOURCE? DEFINE THE DIFFERENCE Consequently, this is not an issue which draws much in the way of sociological resolution on the subject. Moreover, speaking in a more sociological sense, another issue concerning Facebook is the inappropriateness of varying user intentions. The concept of online identity is refuted by the fact the Facebook is simultaneously connected to the user’s legal identity and bound to the virtual world. The result is that user’s have the opportunity to redefine themselves even in direct connection to details which are inherently bound to the non-virtual world such as relationship status, physical appearance, profession or interests.. SUCH AS? This gives Facebook an obfuscating subject as it related to our ability to comprehend that which is implied by one’s Facebook identity.. EXPLAIN Facebook is inherently subject to many of the same usage issues which have always been associated with internet usage. That is, â€Å"digital identity, like that presented in the Facebook, thrives because it is temporal. You can change your identity at the drop of a hat – you can become a liberal or conservative at the push of a button, change your interests and hobbies on a whim. † (Stutzman, 1). While this is the kind of identity elasticity for which individuals have often placed specific value O onN the opportunities available on the internet, the distinctions (which we have) discussed hered HERE regarding Facebook make this an issue of increasing debate. Particularly, (we are demanded) the question is asked IS ASKED as to whether or not the fact that Facebook’s insistence of seeking to connect online and non-virtual identity in one’s online presentation, can be a negative pattern due to possible obfuscation by deliberate misrepresentation. An example of this might be one’s unauthorized use of another’s account or, far more insidiously, one of the most troubling examples of this might be the infiltration of a school network by a sexual predator. GIVE A CLEAR EXAMPLE While this is an entitlement right reserved to be determined by the individual, it is one that further blurs the lines of the authenticity of digital identity within the specific context of a network designed to attempt the contrary. Therefore, it is conceivable that Facebook is where desired by its user, a forum where individual identity can become quite distorted. Thus, if one has selected Facebook as a means of obtaining information about a particular individual—which is increasingly common in the cases of gathering public information, occupationally-based background checks or journalistic research—the presentation of Facebook as connecting to one’s legal identity allows the provided information to be seen as valid information. Because this assumption is justified by Facebook’s short history —though not necessarily by its users—its service to the strategy of observing identity is somewhat questionable. QUOTE AN EXPERT ON THIS As online media theorists Ellison et al note â€Å"there are clearly some image management problems experienced by students as reported in the press, and the potential does exist for privacy abuses,† (p. 1166) Certainly, the(our) research indicates that there is almost an inherent aspect of Facebook which demands that the user construct himself or herself in such a fashion as to reflect the desired impression received by others. And certainly, this is an activity which we? WHO? social interactants engage in socially on a moment-to-moment basis at school, at work or even at the train station. Impression management is a regular aspect of the way we communicate, interact and otherwise engage social contexts. SOURCE? However, as technology author KelleyWHO IS HE? i Indicates: â€Å"Facebook users attempt to manage the impression others receive of them by guessing what their interpretation of their performance will be. The structure of Facebook limits the ways people can construct identities and so some users have to creatively modify their performance. † (Kelly 13). The primary limitation with Facebook is its static nature in the context, at least in comparison to personal interaction. Undoubtedly, in the traditional context of socializing, we are in a unique position to observe rather than to simply guess how our impression management is received. Thus, we can alter identity perception in a matter of seconds. If one feels that his self-presentation in conversation has produced a misimpression, it is feasible to quickly alter one’s conduct, verbal approach or some other quality by which interpretation is being gathered. SOURCE? (Koch, 319) In Facebook, one is always seeking to establish an identity which is likely to promote the widest appeal to all observers, thus serving a more homogenized interest than personal impression management which occurs on an interaction-to-interaction basis. This gives one the opportunity to attempt to deduce a likely collective response, in which a social network is perceived almost as an audience amongst whom common interests or appeals must be identified. SOURCE? (Kock, 320) In this way, identity becomes a target-directed activity in Facebook, almost placing the user in a position of marketing an identity to those in the network. This causes a distinct conflict concerning the image and identity management which one must generally commit to in order to differentiate professional, personal, social and intimate personas. The concern that Facebook may be observable to one’s parent, employer or instructor enters into the discussion here. QUOTE SOMEONE, OR GIVE AN EXAMPLE Accordingly, looking at the amount of information Facebook participants provide about themselves, the relatively open nature of the information, and the lack of privacy controls enacted by the users, Gross and Acquisti (2005) argue that users may be putting themselves at risk both offline (e. g. , stalking) and online (e. g. , identify theft). Other recent Facebook research examines student perceptions of instructor presence and self-disclosure. † (Ellison, 1146) Indeed, one of the most challenging nuances of the social networking phenomenon is its variation of social networking by way of its changing of forums. (Ellison, 1146) IS THIS AQUOTE? NAME THE SOURCE It may not be accurate to refer to online networking as an extension of traditional social networking insofar as this context has the capacity to undermine or alter many implicit rules therein. Referring once again to the Hewitt and Forte study, one of the most pertinent examples of the difference here impliedIMPLIED is that individuals choosing to enter into the online community may do so without the types of informal cues, approaches and comforts pertaining to traditional social networking such as facial expressions, vocal intonations and even attire. SUCH A. S? Thus, it occurs that, in the case of university networks especially, faculty members can create Facebook identities and establish â€Å"friendships† with students. This inserts educational instructors into a vantage POINTpoint? to relate directly to students—or perhaps more problematically, a vantage pointPOINT? from which to observe students—not previously afforded them. In consequence, there is a prospective sense amongst student social networks that some violation of unspoken social arrangement is facilitated by such networking. To this extent, the issue of one’s selected identity—from the perspective of student and faculty—may well be altered strategically in reflection of the awareness that the other party is in a new position of direct observation. That is, â€Å"because social networking communities are built to support presentation of self, identity management is likely to be a significant issue for participants in communities whose membership crosses perceived social boundaries and organizational power relationships. † (Hewitt and Forte, 12) Indeed, it is not of a small degree of importance that there is a separate dynamic of power in the contract between faculty and student that may be threatened by the merging of more inherently social contexts. Thus, as it is specifically concerns the issue of identity, this situation raises the concern that intentional misrepresentation may be encouraged. SOURCE? EXAMPLE? Moreover, as we have identified the preference of activities for users such as the publicizing of events, the posting of photographs and communication with peers, the concept that an instructor is watching is likely to have an inhibitive impact on the presentation of self. SOURCE? (Ellison, 1140) Similarly, the motives for an instructor to present one’s self in this context may be cause forinto GRAMMAR speculation as well, suggesting that an interest in observing students has been falsely underplayed in relation to the instructor’s interest in social engagement.. (Hewitt & Forte, 1)SOURCE? OR EXAMPLE? Though, Facebook does offer many privacy options which allow users to determine who can see what information posting within a profile, with regard to the issue of identity and presentation, such as the protection of age or the prevention of profile views from individuals outside of one’s networkDESCRIBE THESE OPTIONS the deconstruction of some social boundaries concerning such limitied factors as geogrpahyndaries SUCH AS? which have been purposefully—and in some instances usefully—established does have an impact on the validity of presented identities. Still, with the issue of identity thrust to the side, there is a notable value (which we can find) in this deconstruction of social boundaries. According to the Hewitt and Forte study, which in 2006 evaluated student behaviors at the Georgia Institute of Technology, â€Å"two thirds of the students surveyed [in their research GIVE FULL DETAILS ABOUT DATES, PLACES, RANGE ETC] reported that they are comfortable with faculty on the site. Positive comments tended to focus on the alternate communication channels afforded by the site and on the potential for students to get to know professors better. † (Hewitt and Forte, 2) In this way, (quite) in fact, Facebook appears to offer a reconsideration of the dynamic between instructor and student which can actually provoke a positive social change. Without question, this interaction is allowing an educational intimacy (improbable)which would be otherwise improbable, with instructors finding a way to enter into a student realm outside of the classroom without necessarily imposing hierarchical demands upon students. FOR EXAMPLE? HAS THIS HAPPENED? These direct contradictions make it increasingly difficult to make a rigorous argument for certain that Facebook’s current usage â€Å"proclivities† have achieved a cultural consensus in terms of sociological impact. That is, where this discussion has focused so significantly on the matter of identity management, there is good cause to suggest that normative behaviors are now only in their infancy. Only four years old, the remarkable sociological, technological and economic impact of Facebook is still being formulated during a continued phase of massive adoption proliferation. (Ellison, 1140)IS THIS A QUOTE? SOURCE? Therefore, it is uncertain how the near future will shape usage and identity considerations. And in many ways, this is a direct factor in the distortion of identity which is currently available, and perhaps even encouraged by the current Facebook model. To this extent, â€Å"while people construct identities in all parts of their lives, this performance is particularly evident on Facebook since the norms of use and interpretation are still being developed for this community. This manifests itself in debates over Facebook etiquette, risks and user rules. † (Kelley, 2) This is a set of debates which is still very much underway, and which presumes (for us) mesa future in which high adoption rates of Facebook will force continual discussion on the issues of identity here related. promise some resolution. N0T USRE WHAT THIS MEANS. WHY DO HIGH ADOPTION RATES NEED A ‘RESOLUTION’? Indeed, as the research here suggests, this resolution is likely to benefit the improved balance for the user of desired image presentation and the demand for accuracy, as it appears that the true social and interactive benefits of Facebook are realized thusly. Even as individuals attempt to manage impressions that benefit their social or image-based status, there is a definable interest for many in constructing an identity which represents the aspects of one’s life which will place them in useful and relevant social networks. It is therefore that we cconcluded AVOID THE ‘WE’ that there is a positive end in the proliferation of Facebook. Though it is clear that its early stages of development have presented a wide array of new and evolving considerations relating to privacy, social power dynamic and image management, there is nonetheless a direct value to honest representation in the social networking context that suggests this impulse will ultimately direct the further evolution of normative behaviors on Facebook and other online social networking communities. Works Cited Appadurai, Arjun. Modernity at Large. Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. University of Minnesota Press, 1996. Castells, Manuel. The Rise of the Network Society. Blackwell Publishers, Massachusetts, 2000. Cockcroft, Lucy. â€Å"Facebook loophole ‘open to identity thieves†. Telegraph. 5 January 2008. 27 April 2008. . Ellison, N. B. ; Steinfeld, C. & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook ‘friends:’ Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12(4)., p. 1143-1168. Giddens, Anthony. Modernity and Self-Identity. Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Polity Press, Cambridge, 1991. â€Å"Facebook†. Wikipedia. 28 April 2008. 28 April 2008. . Giddens, Anthony. Modernity and Self-Identity. Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Polity Press, Cambridge, 1991. Hewitt, Anne and Forte, Andrea. â€Å"Crossing boundaries: Identity management and student/faculty relationships on the Facebook†. Georgia Institute of Technology. 24 April 2008. 24 April 2008. < http://www-static.