Constructing identity on Facebook.com : A qualitative ethnography

Title: Constructing identity on Facebook.com – A qualitative ethnographyNumber of pages: 40 (34)Author: Clara LindholmTutor: Amelie HössjerCourse: Media and communications studies CPeriod: HT (Autumn) 2009University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of InformationScience, Uppsala University.Purpose/Aim: The purpose is to study how the social community Facebook.com canbe used in order to construct identity. The study follows three Facebook users in anobservation where they are able to document their thoughts and reflections in anprivate media diary. This study investigates their use of the medium and focuses onthe functions with which they are able to alter their profiles. The result consists of acombination of these reflections, interviews and a selection of literature relevant tothe subject of new media, the use of social internet communities and social sciencetheories. The social theories are a selection of theories from the social scientist ErvingGoffman.Material/Method: This study is based on a qualitative research method and anethnographic method. The ethnography is a combination of an observation where theobserved are asked to keep a diary over the changes and updates they make on theirFacebook profiles. The ethnographic method further consists of selected literature andpersonal interviews. Finally the results are analyzed and presented.Main results: The three people in this study admit to being worried about uploadingpersonal information on the community Facebook. Still they found the socialcommunity Facebook as something positive which they all use several times per weekand in some cases daily. The conclusion shows that there is an uncertaintysurrounding the ethics of the use of Facebook when it comes to the differencebetween private and public and how to handle the personal information of others.Also it is concluded that an important part of the construction of identity on Facebookprofiles is the activity of deleting information whilst trying to uphold an image thatgoes along with the person’s percepted role in the society.Keywords: Facebook, social network, community, ethnography, Digital identity,Web 2.