Impression Management: Why do we post what we do? What do we want to happen?

In class, we've begun talking about the many selves we have to maintain in our daily lives, and social media can further exacerbate the need to keep up with multiple identities.

Impression management is all about putting our best face out there for audiences to see as they encounter us in social media spaces or even in real life. We also talked about the performance of self, and how it relates to impression management.

Some questions to ponder as you think about your blogs and your themes as they relate to this week's topic:

• How many selves do you feel like you project on your social media profiles? 
• What is/where is truth and why do we choose certain features to promote in online settings?  
• What do you think some of the ethical considerations should be as we decide which face to present to people online? 
• What do you think are some of the pitfalls/dark sides to impression management? 

Even if your class blog is geared to something very specific, impression management still matters. Why is understanding impression management in this digital age so important?

Courtesy of Mastering the Dynamics of Communication Technology Blog

Another option for this week's blog post is to reflect on what you've posted on your social media platforms recently. What did you post? Where did you post it? Who did you want to see it? What were you motivations behind posting? Did you get the response you were hoping to get?

Whatever you decide to blog about this week, include at least one photo in your post! Posts are due by end of day Friday. Happy blogging!

More Guests, New Media Journals, and Disinhibition... oh my!

For your blog posts this week, you have some options... but hopefully you won't feel like our friend Elmo here...

Gif courtesy of Tenor

Option 1: Summarize Dr. Lusike Mukhongo's visit to our class from Tuesday. What did she talk about? What stuck out to you or resonated with you in particular? Include a photo in your post.

Option 2: You turned in your New Media Journal this week. What are some of your general take away's from this project so far. How was it to keep a log of your new media use over the course of the week? Include at least one photo in your posts.

Option 3: On Thursday we'll be discussing Online Disinhibition from the Suler reading. Tell me what you think about toxic vs. benign disinhibition. Choose one of the six types of disinhibition to expand on and provide a popular example of it. Include a photo or link of some sort in your post.

Option 4: Sometimes we say and do things online that we would never say or do "in real life." Reflect on a time that you noticed the online disinhibition effect totally happening in one of your online encounters. Do you feel like it was toxic, benign, or a mixture of both? If you had to do it over again, what would you do? Include a photo in your post.

Remember your blog posts should provide details - let me know you're really thinking about the topic(s) you're reflecting on from week to week. Posts are due by end of day on Friday.