social rubiks

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From 2005-2012 Danah Boyd, author of the book I’ts complicated, navigated throughout the United States to observe the usage and purpose for which teens use social media. In hopes of having a greater understanding, she broadened her spectrum of cultures and ethnic backgrounds to examine teen behavior on social network sites, blogs, and other categories of media. After analyzing her results, she felt compelled to explain the social network lives of teens to those who didn’t grasp its nature. I will delve into the book’s first chapter and explain how her topics, taken out of context, identity work in networked publics, crafting a profile, creating an identity performance, and impression management in a networked setting, ties into the evolution of establishing an identity.
We all have a way of talking to different audiences such as our parents, teachers, friends, or employers. In a physical environment, these contexts are controlled by different styles of speaking, mediated by the actions and reactions of the individuals present. When different contexts converge on a social network there is a context collapse that occurs due to the lack of control any party has. Unlike a physical interaction, conversations on social networks cannot be altered. The section, taken out of context, explains how teens must choose to exhibit themselves to certain audiences to attain the feeling of control over their conversations. Context collapse will play a role in how audiences interpret situations even if the messages discussed were not intended for them. Social network users must determine the context they are utilizing to understand how to function before disconnected/invisible audiences.
Identity work in networked places describes the contrast be...

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...e in life; hence they are on a continual journey into adulthood, progressively defining themselves. The author states, “Self-interpretation is constructed through what they explicitly provide, through what their friends share, and as a product of how other people respond to them”(Boyd 59). This shows that we are not the sole factor that manipulates the assessment made on our lives. The recurrent link between social network sites exposes weaknesses in the privacy of teens’ controlled context.
Context collapse, defining an identity you want to gear towards an audience, finding the privacy to safely interact with your friends, and the external challenges teens face are all determining factors on how teens portray their image to social site onlookers.

Works Cited

Boyd, Danah. It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. New Haven: Yale UP,

2014. Print

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