The readings this week differed from Turkle’s study of MUD’s and virtual worlds primarily in that the channels of focus (including blogs and social media sites) tend to invite increased levels of self identification. Turkle’s research highlighted instances when people participated in anonymous virtual worlds to manifest sides of themselves that they couldn’t necessarily exhibit offline. Conversely, Huffaker and Calvert, as well as Grasmuck, Martin and Zhao, found that other channels, like blogs and Facebook, are often used to enhance offline identities. Grasmuck, Martin and Zhao noted that the “nonymity (similar to” identifiability”) of online environments seems to make people more “realistic and honest” in their self-presentation.” Of course, this particular quote was referring to research of internet dating sites, which like Facebook and Twitter, are much less anonymous than MUDs and virtual worlds.

In looking at teenage authored weblogs, Huffaker and Calvert found that a high percentage of teens disclose personal information about themselves, including names, age, demographic, location etc. Although this research doesn’t necessarily apply to adult bloggers, I think a similar correlation could be made. The person I’m following for my semester blog analysis is an adult male with two kids. In his blog, he gives his full name, the names of his wife and kids, his occupation, his home state, etc. He’s clearly not trying to be someone completely different in his blog than who he his offline.

The Grasmuck, Martin and Zhao reading focused on ethnic-racial displays of self identity on social networking sites. They found that Facebook is a venue in which minorities often express their heritage in a way that enhances their self-conception. Although my blogger is not a minority, I think he’s essentially doing the same thing. He focuses completely on his role as a father and a comedian, enhancing his self-conception of himself as those two roles. While it’s true he’s a father and a comedian offline, he’s also many other things: a son, employee, American, etc. Yet he chooses not to talk about these parts of himself in his blog.

For the non-grad students, the Kapidzic and Herring article explored the role of gender in online language, specifically in teen chat rooms. This article ties back into the Huffaker and Calvert reading. Kapidzic and Herring found that gender communication roles are actually more similar to traditional findings than new beliefs of gender neutrality. The authors pointed out that many teens readily identify themselves as male or female through their profile information and profile pictures. From a visual standpoint, teens are consciously making the decision to incorporate gender as a salient part of their identity. Based on my experiences, this seems to hold true in most online channels, like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. I’m not so sure if this would be the case in virtual worlds, where it’s much easier to remain anonymous.