How the web can haunt you
Sunday, August 30, 2009 by cbic004
While watching TV the other night I witnessed a particularly funny and intriguing episode of Two and a Half Men where on ‘Googling’ his name on the internet, Charlie (a hedonistic bachelor) discovers a website made about him entitled “Charlie Sucks”. His free-wheeling lifestyle comes back to haunt him in the form of a blog contributed to by his disgruntled previous lovers. These women highlight the negative experiences they have had with Charlie and his unflattering character traits. They also compare notes to discover his scripted and recycled methods of seduction. It is interesting to note that on his discovery Charlie is most alarmed by the fact that he can no longer attempt to influence others impression of himself in the context of seduction as everyone now knows his tricks of the trade - he has lost control of his impression management in terms of performing his identity.
Goffman’s ideas on identity explain the way in which one may engage in strategic activities to put across an impression to others which is in their interests to get across. His dramaturgical model suggests all the world is a stage and we are engaged at different levels of performance to try to construct peoples perceptions of ourselves. The profile construction that exists on social networking sites and blogs is a prime example of these impression management activities. A profile can be converted into a place where you can show off/exaggerate aspects about yourself to enhance your ‘impression’. It is a chance to present yourself as you really are, or as you would like to be. However, in Charlie’s case, we see the leakage that can occur between the front stage and the back stage, which is not a part of the intended performance. The website creates a discrepancy between virtual (suggestions of the kind of person we are and how we would like others to see us) and actual (individual characteristics that one can actively demonstrate) identity (M. Sullivan & C. Lane-West Newman, 2007). This discrepancy between virtual and actual identity is deeply discrediting for Charlie - it is what Goffman terms a stigma which has the potential to ruin Charlie’s social identity (Sullivan and Lane-West Newman, 2007). Charlie’s immediate reaction to this is to try to close the site down, only to find out only the person who created the site can delete it.
This resonates Kennedy’s (2006) argument that early cyber culture studies which emphasised the fluid and fragmented anonymous identities afforded by this new technology, defining it as a good thing in terms of identity play need to be revisited and questioned. Although we can choose which parts of our identity we want to highlight, there is a constant tension between the unavoidable perceptions people have of us and the choices in impressions we would like to make. Another thing which is highlighted by the “Charlie sucks” site is the way in which blogs and profiles can leave an “electronic footprint” where information put online by you or others now might be permanent and could be accessed for years into the future. This proves to be an issue in terms of identity construction. Turns out search engines such as Google, are fielding complaints that information associated with searches made under an individual's name that bring up expressions of opinion which they now believe is harmful to their careers (some examples posted on the blog have poignantly demonstrated this) (R.
References:
Sullivan, M. and Lane-West Newman, C. (2007). Identity. In S. Matthewman, C. Lane-West Newman & B. Curtis (Eds.). Being Sociological (pp.233-254)
Verkaik, R. (2007). Get out of my Facebook - how the web can haunt you .
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/identity-theft/news/article.cfm?c_id=1500934&objectid=10477932&pnum=2