Impression Management 2.0
The Relationship of Self-Esteem, Extraversion, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Presentation Within Social Networking Sites
Abstract
Social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and StudiVZ are popular means of communicating personality. Recent theoretical and empirical considerations of homepages and Web 2.0 platforms show that impression management is a major motive for actively participating in social networking sites. However, the factors that determine the specific form of self-presentation and the extent of self-disclosure on the Internet have not been analyzed. In an exploratory study, we investigated the relationship between self-reported (offline) personality traits and (online) self-presentation in social networking profiles. A survey among 58 users of the German Web 2.0 site, StudiVZ.net, and a content analysis of the respondents’ profiles showed that self-efficacy with regard to impression management is strongly related to the number of virtual friends, the level of profile detail, and the style of the personal photo. The results also indicate a slight influence of extraversion, whereas there was no significant effect for self-esteem.
References
(2008, May). “The wurst” meets “fatless” in MySpace. The relationship between self-esteem, personality, and self-presentation in an online community. Paper presented at the Conference of the International Communication Association, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
(1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
(1982). Self-esteem, self-presentation, and future interaction: A dilemma of reputation. Journal of Personality, 50, 29–45.
(1993). Neo-FFI. Neo-Fünf-Faktoren-Inventar nach Costa und McCrae – Deutsche Fassung
[Neo-FFI. Neo-five-factor-inventory by Costa and McCrae – German version] . Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe.(1996). Personal homepage survey. Retrieved March 6, 2007, from www.nicola.doering.de/Hogrefe/buten/www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/sbuten/phpi.htm
(1998). Personal homepages and the construction of identities on the web. Retrieved March 10, 2007, from www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/webident.html
(1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
(1999). Who do you think you are? Personal home pages and self-presentation on the World Wide Web. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 76, 646–658.
(2006). Managing impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11, 415–441.
(1996). Messung des Selbstwertgefühls: Befunde zur Reliabilität, Validität und Stabilität der Rosenberg-Skala
[Assessment of self-esteem: Results on reliability, validity and stability of the Rosenberg scale] . Diagnostica, 42, 284–292.(1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, NY: Double Day.
(2007, March). Personality impressions based on Facebook profiles. Paper presented at the International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media 2007, Boulder, CO. Retrieved May 10th, 2007, from www.icwsm.org/papers/3–Gosling-Gaddis-Vazire.pdf
(2005). Kommunizieren schüchterne Menschen lieber per E-Mail?
[Do shy people prefer to communicate via email?] . In K.-H. Renner A. Schütz F. Machilek, Eds., Internet und Persönlichkeit. Differentiell-psychologische und diagnostische Aspekte der Internetnutzung[Internet and personality. Differential and diagnostic aspects of Internet usage] (pp. 134–147). Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe.(2007). Motivations and self-presentation strategies on Korean-based “Cyworld” weblog format personal homepages. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 10, 24–31.
(2002). The Internet paradox revisited. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 49–74.
(1995). Self-presentation. Impression management and interpersonal behavior. Madison, WI: Brown & Benchmark.
(2004). Selbstdarsteller oder Menschen wie du und ich? Intentionen und Persönlichkeitsmerkmale von Homepagebesitzer/inne/n
[Self-promoters or ordinary people? Intention and personality of homepage owners] . Zeitschrift für Medienpsychologie, 16, 88–98.(2006). Personality in cyberspace: Personal websites as media for personality expressions and impressions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 1014–1031.
(1990). Ein Fragebogen zur Wirksamkeit der Selbstdarstellung
[A questionnaire of efficacy of self-presentation] . Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 21, 162–170.(1977). The interaction of person and situation. In D. Magnusson N.S. Endler, Eds., Personality at the crossroads. Current issues in international psychology (pp. 333–352). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2006). Psychologie des “Selbst”
[Psychology of the self] . Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe.(2005). What is Web 2.0? Retrieved July 3, 2007, from www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/ 2005/ 09/30/what-is-web-20.html
(2002). The self online: The utility of personal homepages. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 46, 346–368.
(1979). Conceiving the self. New York: Basic Books.
(1980). Impression management: The self-concept, social identity, and interpersonal relations. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
(1985). Identity and self-identification. In , The self and social life (pp. 65–99). New York: McGraw-Hill.
(2007, August 17). StudiVZ will am Jahresende Geld verdienen
[StudiVZ plans to earn money at the end of the year] . Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 190, 16.(2006). Die multidimensional Selbstwertskala (MSWS)
[The multidimensional self-esteem scale] . Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe.(2007). Shyness, sociability, and the use of computer-mediated communication in relationship development. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 10, 64–70.
(1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. In , Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 261–302). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
(2007). Faktenblatt – Presseinformation
[Facts – Media information] . Retrieved August 9th, 2007, from static. ak.studivz.net/lp/svz_de/press/img/studiVZ-Faktenblatt.pdf(1990). To be adored or to be known: The interplay of self-enhancement and self-verification. In R.M. Sorrentino E.T. Higgins, Eds., Foundations of social behavior (pp. 408–448). New York: Guilford.
(2006). Friend networking sites and their relationship to adolescents’ well-being and social self-esteem. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 9, 584–590.
