Date of Award

12-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Specialization

Communication and Leadership

School or Department

School of Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Alexa Dare

Second Advisor

Dr. Kristina Morehouse

Abstract

Identity and identity construction are constantly changing areas of study, especially as they relate to communication studies. Online communication is an increasingly common mode of communication, and social media is one of the fastest growing forms of online communication. In social media, individuals create pages that seemingly represent themselves. This representation contains both initial and ongoing negotiation of identity. This study explores how college students, as an active demographic in social media networking, negotiate and manage their online identities. The theory primarily used to study this mode of communication is Computer-mediated Communication theory, which encompasses other theories including social presence theory. In studying college students' negotiation of identity in social media, the methodology of this study is qualitative interviews. These interviews are demonstrative in nature, and conducted with the social media artifact present. This study finds that overall college students do not see social media as limiting their identities or falsifying the identity information shared online, but rather view social media as a tool for expressing their identities, although some parts of identity are held back in online interactions. This means that, although it is not readily apparent to the creators of social media pages, identities of students are being fragmented to fit into the restricted space of social media.

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