Identities and virtual communities

In my last post I touched a bit on identity in virtual communities. Well I found this interesting article online called Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. The article makes some interesting points, some of which I’d like to highlight.

In the real world, the body is a ‘compelling and convenient definition of identity’. This is true because we often base assumptions and generalisations on people on how they look. How we dress is most often an indication of our personality and who were are. However in virtual communities we don’t have the advantage or luxury of being able to judge people on their body, or physical appearance.

Identity is an important element in communication as ‘knowing the identity of the people you communicate with is essential for understanding and evaluating an interaction.” When I go on Facebook and I sent messages and interact with my ‘friends’ I assume that they have the same identity online as they do in the real world.

The thing about online identities is that people are able to create a multitude of personalities and identities. A recent example of this is my lecturer Jude and the editor of Grocott’s Mail created false identities on the Grocott’s website. They posted comments under articles using their false identities in order to generate more comments and discussion on the site.

I think what this article is trying to make people aware of is that identities in virtual communities are not fixed and that they are not necessarily a true representation of the person sitting behind the computer screen.

Dancing as Mussolini's Mistress

My first vlog!

Are virtual communites really the same as real life communites?

In the reading by Nathan Vivian and Fay Sudweeks called Social networks in Transnational and Virtual Communities they state that virtual communities are like any other real communities. They also say that people bring the same values to virtual communities as they do in real life communities. I think that it is a large generalisation and assumption that all people carry the same values to both types of communities. Virtual communities like Facebook do allow people to interact in a virtual landscape as they would in real life. Although in my opinion virtual communities allow people to create idealised versions of themselves. Virtual communities have people set up profiles about themselves, therefore have power and control over how they are seen and perceived as on their profile. Members of virtual communities often have profile pictures of themselves and written "about me" sections, this is so that other members can see what you look like and learn more about your personalities and likes. However this means that members have the power and control over how they are seen and perceived. Members have the power to decide what pictures of them of used and what exactly is going to be written to describe them. I often look at the profile pictures on Facebook and try read into what that person is trying to say about themselves, and how they want others to read them through the image. I feel that people try to embellish themselves in virtual communities; they create idealised versions of themselves. Often I will find people with model posed profile pictures as if to prove to the world that they are beautiful, or I will find people doing weird poses or drinking alcohol, as if to try show themselves as "weird, crazy, totally out there" types. Meantime half these people are just average Joes who are not anything special to look at nor are they crazy, witty, funny or whatever else they trying desperately become. So I don’t think that virtual communities and real life communities are exactly the same, because in virtual communities you have more power in the way that you want people to perceive you.

With regards to bringing the same values, I also don’t fully agree. The persona’s and identities that people adopt in the internet and virtual communities are not necessarily the same as real life. The amount of porn on the internet shows that people are into voyeurism, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that these are the same people are going to try watch their mates having shag. Let's be honest here, we've all seen porn on the internet, I have. But I certainly wouldn’t go into say Adult World and go sit in the viewing booth! This may not be a perfect example of the point I’m trying to make, and I will try think of better examples in coming posts.

Otherwise I'm, going to stick to my guns about people using the internet to create hyper-realities about themselves especially in the realms of virtual communities.

I had to rush this post...

Over the next while I am going to be discussing social media, virtual communities and networks in my blog. Basically I want to look at sites like Youtube, facebook and myspace and how people use these sites to create virtual communities.

At the moment the facebook craze has hit Rhodes University hard. I for one am completely addicted to the site. Majority of the people I network with on facebook I see in person nearly everyday or have the opportunity to see them everyday, yet most of the time I’d rather communicate with them over facebook than in real life. This is is disturbing when I actually think about. This is one aspect that I would like to focus on, are people more comfortable in communicating virtually than in real life? Is this is first step towards living in virtual reality?

I think that virtual communities and networks allow people to feel that they belong to something, a special group. It is part of human nature to feel the need to belong to something, to know where one fits in the greater scheme of things. Virtual communities play into this idea and is something I would like to explore.

I am unsure where exactly my research into the topic is going to take me, but I am hoping to find some social and maybe even psychological impacts that virtual communities and networks have on users.