In 2010, Jillianne Code and Nicholas Zaparyniuk defined social identIty as:
an ongoing interplay between how we identify ourselves and how others identify us. To identify with any given group of people, whether it is an ethnic group or an online organisation, we look for similarities between the group members and ourselves.
It’s important to understand how people experience different social media platforms and how they construct personal and professional online identities. Likewise, user research is important to understanding how people use social technologies.
My personal use of social technology
When I use SoundCloud and YouTube, I consider myself to be a Consumer, as I haven’t created any content for these platforms but I use them on a daily basis. I enjoy electronic dance music and listening to podcasts; SoundCloud is the perfect platform for me as it aggregates the latest content created by my favourite producers and record labels. I also have a few friends who produce music and SoundCloud allows me to listen to their work and show my support by sharing it with my followers. I use YouTube on a daily basis to watch content produced by individuals such as Friendlyjordies and digital content creation studios such as VICE. When I was creating my persona, I couldn’t remember how to alter an Image a certain way in Photoshop. When I’ve been faced with similar issues in the past, I’ve searched for instructive videos on YouTube and I did the same this time to solve my problem.
On Instagram and Snapchat, it’s Just Me. On these social media platforms, I restrict the users who follow and see my content to only my close friends and family. My accounts are private and because of this, I can share more intimate or irresponsible moments of my life without fear of ridicule or repercussion. When there’s a moment in time that I can capture and want to be stored for the foreseeable future, I share it on Instagram. However not all of my family and friends are on Instagram so when I want a moment to be seen by a larger audience I share it on Facebook as well.
I also use Snapchat as an unfiltered gateway into my day-to-day life, as the content that I share will only be available for a maximum of 24 hours and the audience who can view it is the smallest out of all my online identities.
When using Google+, I identify as a Student. I’m a part of an online community for one of my university subjects. Within the community I can contribute to the student discussion space by posting relevant questions and content, or respond to my peers’ contributions.
Where my identities coexist
According to a study in 2010 by Cross-Tab Market Research, 75 percent of HR departments are expected to research candidates online. My Professional identity exists across LinkedIn and WordPress, where I emphasise my skills and interests in a positive light for future employers. I used LinkedIn to showcase my work experience and projects I’m proud to put my name to. I also use it to explore the different companies that I could work for after graduation, to network with professionals within the industry and to network and interact with the fellow students that I’ve met during my time at university. I also use WordPress in a professional setting to showcase my Student identity to future employers.
My Just Me and Student identities combine when I use Facebook. As a regional student from Cairns studying in Brisbane, I’ve been living away from home for over 2 years. Family is what I value most and the majority of my family uses Facebook. While I do follow what my friends are doing on the platform, it’s more important that I can keep up-to-date with the ongoings at home and stay in touch with everyone.
– Walter John Flaws
As I’m the first-in-my-family to attend university, I’ve been given the chance to rise through social classes thanks to our fair and equitable society in Australia. Being a beneficiary myself, I want to defend the same opportunities that I’ve been afforded. I use Facebook to keep up to date and share the causes that I’m passionate about. According to Pew Research, three in ten adults consume at least some news while on Facebook and 34% of those Facebook news consumers ‘like’ a news organisation or individual journalist. Some of the causes that I ‘like’ include the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), GetUp! and Greenpeace Australia Pacific. As a student, I also use Facebook as a tool to collaborate with other group members. We create groups to track and upload our contributions to completing set assessment, plan meetings and share relevant information.
Jan-Hinrik Schmidt concluded in 2013, that:
How exactly identity is presented and performed online is not only up to the individual but rather framed by complex constellations of software code, formal and informal rules, and technological and social relations in which particular interactions take place.
According to a new eMarketer report from 2013, 1.73 out of 7.125 billion people worldwide are using some form of social network. Along with everyone else worldwide, I exist within my own context and I bring a unique identity to each social media platform that I use.
How people experience social technologies
in 2013, David Sherwin describes user research as:
[helping us to] understand how other people live their lives, so that we can respond more effectively to their needs with informed and inspired design solutions. User research also helps us to avoid our own biases, because we frequently have to create design solutions for people who aren’t like us.
User research methods can be a mix between quantitative and qualitative research. Fabricio Teixeira, Caio Braga and Bruno Oyama explain that these different research methods are delivered in different forms, such as:
- Focus Group
- Quantitative Survey
- Usability Test
- Card Sorting
- A/B Test
- Eyetracking
- Accessibility Analysis
in 2015, Juliet Richardson shared the several steps involved in identifying the right research method or combination of methods:
- Understand the problem
- Ask the right questions
- Identify the data that will answer those questions
- Select the research methods that will provide the necessary data
Spending time in understanding the problem and then planning and carefully designing your research approach will pay off in terms of the quality of data and insight that you will get back.
When I was conducting user research on myself to create my Persona and Identity Map, I had to empathise with myself and my experience of social technologies. I had begun to understand why users make their choices and how they interact with different social technologies. In my opinion, it’s the aim of user research to understand why users interact with different social media platforms in the first place. It’s important that the user research helps us understand our users and how social technologies fit into our lifestyles so that the right experience is delivered to the user.
Learning outcomes
Before I began work on this assessment, I had already constructed more than just a personal and professional online identity without even realising. I investigated my own use of use of social technologies, through the creation of my own Persona and Identity Map. By understanding who I am these spaces, I was able to analyse and use my critical thinking skills to understand the way people experience social technologies, including how people construct their own online identities. Completing this assessment has let me benefit from the unit learning outcomes, by gaining the some of the knowledge needed to explore a career as a social technologies practitioner.
However, I believe that the personal learning outcomes from completing this assessment has been more beneficial for me. I now have a greater understanding of the multiple social identities that make up my overall self-concept. As a student, this has been the first time I have experienced ‘connected learning’. I’m enjoy the way the IAB260 unit is delivered and how engaging it is – I never knew how beneficial a Google+ Community discussion space with my peers could be! Finally, I forgot how much I enjoy creating digital media – I’m definitely going to spend more time in Photoshop creating my own content!!
Nathan Norris 