Jag såg det på Facebook
Unga människors självpresentationer på Facebook
Social semioticsYouthFacebookPresentation of selfIdentitySocialsemiotikUngdomarFacebookSjälvpresentationIdentitet
Title: I saw it on Facebook ? Youth presentation of self on FacebookAuthors: Nicole Dreher & Anders SkoglundPresented: 01.06.2010Purpose: The purpose of this thesis was to examine how the, in the study, participating youths make their presentation of self on their Facebook profiles.Methodology: The method used in the thesis was a social semiotic analysis focusing on the social semiotic concepts: semiotic resource, semiotic potential, affordance, denotation and connotation. A social semiotic analysis of composition was also used with the purpose to gain a deeper knowledge of the social semiotic affordances of Facebook?s composition.Theoretical perspectives: The theoretical base of this thesis consists mainly of Erving Goffman?s theory on presentation of self in everyday life as well as relevant theories to youth culture in sociology and identity in social psychology.Conclusions: The results show that the youth?s presentations of selves mostly takes place in their profile picture, status updates, groups, fan pages and through their communication with other users on their wall. The borders between front and back stage on Facebook entirely depends on the norms that the reader expects the profile owner to uphold. The most frequent reason for impression management among the participating youths seemed to be to uphold a façade on front stage, i.e. Facebook, amongst their friends. Most of the participants? use of Facebook confirms theories from previous research on the Internet generation ? that they use it to communicate, network and to express opinions. The results also showed that the profile owner, through their status updates, can revise and reform their presentation of self at any time.