My research essay revolves around the theme of self-presentation in online spaces, and what factors influence, control, and affect the ways people form and present their identities online.
Identities can be formed in many ways across various parts of the Internet, and in this essay I primarily focused on how people present themselves in spaces that allow them to share content and communicate, such as social media networks. To investigate this, I looked at different factors that influence online identity, discerning that influencer/ celebrity culture, the impact of online audiences, and social media platforms and their rules and algorithms, were the most common factors.
My research explores the common experience online, investigating why and what we post in our online spaces, and looks at the theme of identity in the Internet world, as well as questioning the authenticity of many of the interactions we have online.
Image credit to @literallysofie on Twitter and knowyourmeme.com