Social Media as a Context for Identity and Power in Higher

EducationDavid Kasch, PhD

California State University, February 12, 2014Long Beach

Background & ContextSocial network sites (SNSs) are significant environments

o 90-95% of students actively use Facebook (Rainie, Smith, & Duggan, 2013)

o Average of 1-2 hours a day, sometimes more (Junco, 2012)

General research

o Social space (Baym, 2010; boyd, 2008; Rainie & Wellman, 2012)

o Psychological health/well-being (Gonzales & Hancock, 2011)

o Privacy (Debatin, Lovejoy, Horn, & Hughes, 2009; Lewis, Kaufman, & Christakis, 2008)

o Social capital (Ellison, Lampe, Steinfield, & Vitak, 2011)

Background & ContextHigher education research

o Curriculum support (Junco, Heiberger, & Loken, 2010)

o Academic impact (Junco, 2012; Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010)

o Student engagement (DeAndrea, Ellison, LaRose, Steinfield, & Fiore, 2012)

o Alumni involvement (Farrow & Yuan, 2011)

o Student culture (Birnbaum, 2008; Martínez Alemán & Wartman, 2009)

Purpose of Study

• Capture an understanding of how undergraduate students approach and interpret their self-presentations on Facebook

• Contribute a critical perspective of those interpretations to the growing research base on social media

Research Questions1. What forms of self-presentation do students

create through Facebook?

2. How do they create these self-presentations?

3. How do they interpret self-presentations by themselves and their peers?

4. How do students’ self-presentations contribute to their experiences within higher education?

MethodologyCyber-Ethnographic Methods (Hine, 2005)

o Follows the basic tenets of ethnography with a focus on digital forms of participant observation, interviewing, and document analysis

Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2006)

o Knowledge is a social construction resulting from interpretation and reinterpretation of meaning attached to human activity

o Uses open and interpretative data analysis through a process of constant comparison

o Eschews a formal theoretical framework in favor of generating new theory

o Supports the use of sensitizing concepts to help inform the research process

Methodology (cont.)Data Collection

o Participants: 35 students, 21 colleges and universities, 11 states

• Gender: 24 female, 11 male

• Race/Ethnicity: 26 whites, 9 students of color (4 multi-racial)

• Sexual Orientation: 29 heterosexual, 6 LGBTAQ

o Phase One

• Use and Demographics Survey (n=35): Google Forms

• Facebook Profiles (participant observation) (n=35): 2011-2012

o Phase Two

• Semi-structured Interviews (n=25): Skype video chat

Methodology (cont.)Data Analysis

o Constant Comparative Method (Charmaz, 2006)

o Sequential Coding (Charmaz, 2006)

• Initial Coding, Focused Coding, Axial Coding, Thematic Coding

Trustworthinesso Triangulation (Patton, 2002)

• Methods: participant observation, surveys, interviews

• Sources: participants

• Theory: constructivism, critical theory

o Member-Checks (Merriam, 2009)

o Reflective Journaling (Guba & Lincoln, 2005)

FindingsStudents were sophisticated users of Facebook who employed careful self-presentation strategies for multiple, concurrent audiences

Findings emerged from two separate analyseso Constructivist Grounded Theory: The Curated Self

o Critical Theory: The Commodified Self

The Curated SelfDefinition

A digital self-presentation created through

an ongoing curatorial process of organizing (assembling, revising, refining, and editing) media elements (photographs, text, video, and visual endorsements) on a Facebook profile

in order to create a distinct digital embodiment of self

that is both separate from and a continuation of the user’s physical self-presentation.

Key Elements

o Photos; status updates; Likes, comments, and About Me pages

ScrapbookPragmatic Tool

Relational Tool

Entertainment

Model of the Curated Self

Spectacle

Social

Personal

Laye

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Uses of Facebook

ScrapbookPragmatic Tool

Relational Tool

Entertainment

Layers of Curation

Spectacle

Social

Personal

Laye

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Uses of Facebook

Layers of CurationPersonal

o Involved posting to Facebook as a way to keep track of life events, experiences, and friendships

o I've written myself a few messages on my own wall and just kept it private, just for me (Jill)

Social

o Emphasized self-presentation to communicate, bond, and interact with close friends and family, as well as more distant acquaintances

o I just want them to see me. I know that it sounds vague, but I don't post anything to make me sound better than what I am or to make people want to talk to me. You know, I just post things that are significant in my life. (Kristin)

Layers of Curation (cont.)

Spectacle

o Centered around posting content explicitly for others to view, often strangers and authorities

o We have a rule, you can only post pictures the day after, so that any time in the here and now, you can have a chance to think about, "Do I really want this on Facebook?" "Who do I really want to view this picture?”…Even if you block it, they can probably find it. So I'm pretty frugal with what I post. (Maddy)

ScrapbookPragmatic Tool

Relational Tool

Entertainment

Uses of Facebook

Spectacle

Social

Personal

Laye

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Uses of Facebook

Uses of FacebookEntertainment

o Centered on scrolling through their News Feeds to learn about Friends’ activity, see new photos, and to explore article and video links

o I get on it when I get home, and it's something that just stays in an open tab whether I'm looking at it or not. And then whenever I get bored of whatever I'm doing…I switch over to the Facebook tab and scroll through it really fast before I go back. (Dora)

Relational

o The default method for communicating with friends and family and a platform for learning about new or potential Friends

o It’s also a way for me to feel like I’m still friends with my friends at home because it’s so hard to be over here. (Jill)

Uses of Facebook (cont.)

Pragmatic

o A way to coordinate group projects, support campaigns for student government, or promote student group events

o I'm pretty sure what won me the election was just a constant bombardment of the same exact photo for probably 10 days straight. Other than that there's really no photos [on my profile]. (Reed)

Scrapbook

o A personal and group log of events and communication between Friends through photos, wall posts, and messaging

o I lost every single [picture], except on Facebook. So that's one of the reasons I put everything on Facebook because it's a storage place for that…It's also nice to be able to show people like, ‘Hey, I've been to this place in Europe before. Check out my album.’ (Jill)

ScrapbookPragmatic Tool

Relational Tool

Entertainment

The Curated Self

Spectacle

Social

Personal

Laye

rs o

f C

ura

tion

Uses of Facebook

The Commodified SelfDefinition

An amplification of the curated self to exploit hegemonic social norms using an identity surrogate as an object for production, consumption, and distribution.

Emphasized identity as a form of capital and a thing one “owns,” rather than “is” or “does”

Roles of Commodified Selves

Facebook Citizenship

Others as Commodities

Self as Commodity

Commodified Self

Self as CommodityBeing interesting without being personal

o I interpret my Facebook profile as it's simultaneously an expression of me and also kind of an advertisement. I don't put everything that goes on in my life or whatever up there because I know that the purpose of posting up there is for other people to see it. (Amanda)

Using social feedback to shape appearance of self

o Since the idea behind me posting things on Facebook is that other people will see them, there is some sort of response I hope to get. Which is why I usually don't post anything too late…So if I post something and it doesn't get any likes or comments or anything I just assume that either no one saw it or no one cared about it, which makes me kind of sad. (Andrew)

Others as Commodities

Creeping

o I'll go through their profile pictures or their tagged pictures…it's more “let me see what you have on this social networking site. I'm interested to see what you share with people.” (Melinda)

o I used to really Facebook-stalk people and then that ruined the way I saw people because I was seeing things that weren't there. (Jill)

Looking Exploring Creeping Stalking

Others as Commodities

Network Grooming

o Modifying the list of Friends to associate with peers who bring acclaim or to restrict affiliation with undesirable peers

o I pretty much just went through the list and just like “well, haven’t talked to that person,” “I don't even know who that person is,”…coming to college, I accepted tons of Friend requests, because I met people for a second and then four months later never talked to them again. I actually do have a lot of maintenance on [my Friend list] because I don't like people that I don't know to see what I'm doing. (River)

Facebook CitizenshipStudents defined citizenship based on their personal benefit from Friends’ activity rather than what those friends contribute to the larger community

Reflected the degree of effort it took to interpret content

Good Citizens (low effort/high personal stimulus)o Posting new or unique content (such a photos or news articles)

o Providing Likes and comments to posts

Bad Citizens (high effort/low personal stimulus) o Posting vague or cryptic material (such as song lyrics)

o Being overly emotional in posts (seen as inciting drama and conflict)

Discussion• Facebook is central to almost every aspect of

students’ lives as college students

• Students are learning the interpersonal skills they will need in an increasingly digital world

• Facebook is fundamentally a tool – neither good nor bad

• Students use of social media reflects a cultural shift, rather than inter- and intra-personal deficiencies

Implications for Practice

• Practitioners are likely to benefit from adopting an alternative to the “problematic uses” lens

• Critical awareness can develop from intentional use as a tool to achieve personal and academic goals

• Facebook as an institutional tool reduces its role as an active social space for students

• Encouraging self-promotion and self-branding reinforce the commodified self

Implications for Research

• Need to account for Facebook and social media as significant environment in higher education

• Researchers should re-consider a “problematic uses” approach in describing student behavior

• Students’ social media behaviors are a potential model of online learning behaviors

• Study of student development through theories (new & extant) to address influence of social media

Thank You!