StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Social Media and Identity - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The essay "Social Media and Identity" pinpoints that the internet provides an excellent stage on which people can express their feelings about racial matters and challenges affecting communities without exposing themselves to backlash from members of other communities…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER93.7% of users find it useful
Social Media and Identity
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Social Media and Identity"

In this modern information and technology age, community is one of the most misused words with a community for virtually every context one can think of.  Any collection of people with a physical or virtual connection ascribes to the term, which is why there are university, customer, academic, professional, user, and even Facebook communities (Zhang, Hao and John 67). Theoretically, identity has can be described by two theories namely the social identity and the identity theory. The social identity theory is founded on the concept that one’s social category to which they belong provides them with the answer to the question, who am I? This serves to supply both a basis for similarity and uniqueness, for example, someone may say I am a sociologist (Zhang, Hao and John 68). By virtue of this identity communicates what they do and group themselves with other people who share the particular ideology while at the same time distinguishing themselves from people outside this circle.

Nonetheless, despite the desire to be unique people also have another overriding desire to fit in with the larger community and not be constantly part of a minority. For example, an immigrant from a Hispanic community coming to the US may at first try to cling to their ethnic identity and primary even on social media maintaining links with friends with whom they share a common race and language. This is demonstrated in the fact that they may update their status in their mother tongue and by so doing precluding “outsiders”. Nonetheless, the virtual identity must reflect the physical one at some point, as a result, if one is part of a minority and they only socialize with their own, their circles are likely to be very small. Consequently, even the Hispanic visitor will realize at some point that the online friends can only provide so much company eventually identify with his real neighbors even if they are from a different social group (Kushin and Kelin).  This results in one slowly trying to integrate themselves into the dominant community albeit still holding on to their ethnic roots. One may discover, for example, that if they moved from say; Venezuela into the US, maintaining social media posts in Spanish might result in their feeling locked out of the communal life in their new country.  Social media is after all a reflection of life experiences, young people will go to parties and tweet about it, and they will update what they read on the news as well as a variety of contemporary real-time issues that play out in their immediate environment.

Therefore, when one’s social media experience does not reflect their life experiences, one is bound to be lonely in real life and could even feel depressed.  Being a member of a minority group may be a good thing in that one has distinctive uniqueness but it does not protect one from loneliness and sometimes discrimination. To cope, one group has to make adjustments to fit into the other and in most cases, the minorities are forced to do so or feel left out.  On the other hand, one may choose to use social media to address their minority challenges in closed groups for members of their specific community but in socializing with everyone else in real life. This way they can deal with race and ethnicity issues exclusively with those who can relate while at the same time fitting into the global culture. 

Conclusion
In conclusion, social media is indeed an effective platform for minority groups to address their issues in isolation safe from the consequences of discussing “taboo” topics”. Nonetheless, it also provides a platform for cultural integration where these minorities can also interact with the dominant cultures as part of their integration. Isolation has been proved a potentially dangerous thing since it can result in depression and sometimes even self-destructive action such as suicide (Bearman and James 89). Therefore, even when using social media to “insulate” one’s self from the mainstream culture, one should ensure they make an effort to fit in with their immediate neighbors irrespective of their ethnicity.

 

 

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Critical Analysis of the quote: Given that society penalizes those who Essay”, n.d.)
Critical Analysis of the quote: Given that society penalizes those who Essay. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/psychology/1659966-critical-analysis-of-the-quote-given-that-society-penalizes-those-who-openly-discuss-racial-issues-these-spaces-provide-a-refuge-for-honest-conversations-that-affect-their-communities
(Critical Analysis of the Quote: Given That Society Penalizes Those Who Essay)
Critical Analysis of the Quote: Given That Society Penalizes Those Who Essay. https://studentshare.org/psychology/1659966-critical-analysis-of-the-quote-given-that-society-penalizes-those-who-openly-discuss-racial-issues-these-spaces-provide-a-refuge-for-honest-conversations-that-affect-their-communities.
“Critical Analysis of the Quote: Given That Society Penalizes Those Who Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/psychology/1659966-critical-analysis-of-the-quote-given-that-society-penalizes-those-who-openly-discuss-racial-issues-these-spaces-provide-a-refuge-for-honest-conversations-that-affect-their-communities.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Social Media and Identity

Design and Operational Rules of Social Networking

The risks of social networking in regard to a particular security issue, the identity of its users, are explored in this paper.... The paper "Design and Operational Rules of social Networking" emphasize on a company's need to customize social networks to provide the employees the innovative communication features and quite fast and safe data exchange, while depriving them of the temptation to abuse networks during work time.... The use of social networking as a tool of communication has become a common practice worldwide....
9 Pages (2250 words) Literature review

The Role of Identity Constructions and Social Media in Shaping the Image

This essay "The Role of Identity Constructions and social media in Shaping the Image" analyzes how online social worlds facilitate collective participation and the impacts they have on communities.... social media platforms are gaining terrific popularity to the extent that most of them are now becoming formal.... A recent survey, conducted by Chenn, reveals that students prefer using social media for their researches as they act as some sort of group discussion....
12 Pages (3000 words) Essay

The Construction Of Identity Through Social Media Platform: Facebook

As a result of the advent of social media platforms such as the Facebook and the emergent of other online environment in the society, individuals now have an avenue to construct different identities.... As a result of the advent of social media platforms such as the Facebook and the emergent of other online environment in the society, individuals now have an avenue to construct different identities.... To friends, this construction of identity in the social media is taken as real, and individual's networking on Facebook actually believes on what the profile picture depicts (Kennedy 865)....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

False Identity or Misrepresentation in Social Media

If such criminals keep on getting caught, then this would be a good lesson for those who think of crossing the ethical boundaries in interacting with social media and in carrying out e-marketing.... In the paper 'False Identity or Misrepresentation in social media,' the author explains a common practice that people misrepresent themselves to others on social networking sites and chat groups by displaying incorrect information about their age or gender.... n my opinion, everybody visiting social media or carrying out e-marketing should be aware of the code of ethics presented in various data protection laws and legislation so that nobody dares to adopt someone else's identity in order to deceive the owner of the identity and other innocent people....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Childrens Plural Identities on Social Media

Basically, social media enables users manipulate, diversify or distort identities for legitimate reasons such as privacy or deliberate misinformation.... standards, social media influenced formation of plural identities.... s offered by the virtual world to effect formation of identities, the effects of such identities on real life and lastly, societal encouragements or deterrents to plural identity formation in small communities such as Wynona, Minnesota. ...
3 Pages (750 words) Research Paper

Brand Identity Development and the Role of Social Media

The paper analyzes The Role of social media in Brand Identity Development in the UK Fashion Industry.... Hence, evaluating how brand image is impacted by the social media platform can be considered to be valuable aspect of study in the marketing and management area.... The study "Brand Identity Development and the Role of social media" can be suitably used for understanding the contribution of social media platform for enhancing a brands image, in the UK fashion industry....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

Representing Identity through Media

Whereas social media has been characterized by increased social interaction, media consumers 'devote effort into the production of social media, and in so doing, develop a feeling of ownership' (Karahanna, Xu & Zhang 2015, p.... "Representing identity through Media" paper explores ways in which economic reading of media industries, ownership, and advertising, exposes the representation of identity through texts.... Advertising and ownership of media industries have a great influence on the identity formation of media text....
10 Pages (2500 words) Coursework

The Impact of Social Media on Young Jordanian Users Language and Identity

This research "The Impact of Social Media on Young Jordanian Users Language and identity" examines the impact of social media on the language and identity of young Jordanians with a focus on Facebook.... The world has experienced immense growth in social media over the last two decades.... The last few decades have seen the emergence of a variety of social media platforms that people use to connect and interact with friends from across the globe....
8 Pages (2000 words) Research Proposal
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us