Based of Huffaker and Calvert (2005) study about the online identity and language use among male and females, they found out that there were no gender differences for the following:
– In most of the categories of the personal information (first name, age, birth date, full name…etc). But females make a link to personal web site available more often than males.
– In how often emotions were used, and that males use more sad emotions than females.
– In the aggression or passive language patterns.
– And in communality language patterns.
Huffaker and Calvert (2005) concluded that the blogs created by both genders are more alike than different. Also, the freedom and flexibility that online interactions offer led both genders to present and express themselves, their ideas, experiences, and feelings by using adapted language that is unique and more creative.
However, in Grasmuck and Martin (2009) study they investigated self–presentation in anonymous setting and explore differences in self-presentation by distinct ethno-racial groups Facebook profiles of African Americans, Latino, Indian and Vietnamese ancestry students. To do this, they use different identity modes (photos and pictures uploaded by users themselves, or the pictures along with the “wall posts….” They found out that “the identity construction on the internet is influenced by the characteristics of the online environment, users‘social positions including race and ethnicity.”The authors concluded that the presence of minority groups is alive and extremely well articulated in the Facebook community of this study and that different groups use different strategies in identity constructions on face book.
Since I belong to a micro-minority group who lives in the U.S., I am supposed to be more sensitive to racism. Honestly speaking, I never cared about race or gender issues, especially, when it comes to my classmates whether they are offline or online. I have a lot of friends who have the same country of origin changed their names because they are afraid of discrimination. I did not change my name and I will never change my identity because I believe that people like me the way I am . When somebody asks ” where your accent from?”This does not hurt my feelings instead it is what makes me feel Unique. It is true that most of people have some sort of racism deep inside them even if they were not aware of it, but I never had any problem or felt that somebody hates me or discriminated me because of my race or gender. I believe that people will treat you the way you treat them. I treat everybody with full respect that’s why everybody treats me with full respect. When someone asks about my home country I do not take it personally or in a sensitive way, instead, I take it as advantage to tell them about my home country and how beautiful it is. Therefore, I think it is very wrong to treat people differently just because of their gender or race, but instead we should respect each other and learn about the other part of the world and new cultures.
I found it interesting that females are more likely than males to add links to personal websites on their blogs. I guess I’m just not familiar or used to seeing people with their own personal websites. I’m not sure if this unique to academia or if it’s just something I haven’t been exposed to. This is not to say I’ve never seen a personal website. It’s just not common to me in my experience. On the other hand, it seems like tons of people have blogs these days.
I also find the definition of a blog interesting. In this class, we’re primarily focusing on personal blogs that consist of regular entries in reverse chronological order. But I’m used to reading news blogs like the Huffington Post, Deadspin, the Big Lead, etc. These sites essentially feature news content, but they’re called blogs because of the added social commentary.
I read a lot of multi-poster blogs like Tim, but I picked a blogger for my final project specifically because she is a professional blogger, essentially selling her life/lifestyle as her product. She has to stay busy and entertaining in order to produce blog content and regularly links to other bloggers or outside content to have enough material to fill her one to two daily blog posts. I also think that some bloggers band together in order to share traffic and boost their sponsorships by linking to each other’s pages or “featuring” each other’s posts.
I think it’s great that you embrace your uniqueness and don’t mind if people ask about your accent, etc. Recently I’ve noticed that people are starting to really admire other cultures. I grew up around many different cultures, and I ate at all sorts of ethnic restaurants. For years, none of my friends would go with me, and they were close-minded about trying something “foreign.” But, many people are now treating these places as trendy! I think people should be authentic and real about posting about their ethnicity. You’re right, it makes you unique- and that is something special!
Clarissa, not all people are the same, and if someone like you, doesn’t matter where you came from, color, gender, or ethnic group , he or she will like you for yourself, your personality, if not that mean they do not deserve to be your friends. My husband and I from the same country, religion, and everything,but, we still differ. He never tried to try new food or “foreign” as you name it, but I like to try everything new. So if you had a freind who refused to try you food or go with you, don’t take it personally, they might just do not want to eat something new or have a freind who look different than them…Who cares, they are free to go. You should take things as it is and let go a lot of other things. One day you will find new other people who they like you for youself and those are the people who deserve you. By the way, I have a lot of American, Latinos, and Italian freinds here in Memphis who they always come to my house just to eat my food because they love it! So, keep going, and think positively :)
In agreement with what you stated in your blog, I have also noticed that women, more often than guys, base their blogs more on their feelings. However, this could easily result in ruined reputations and hurt feelings, so the authors of these blogs should really be careful about what they blog. For instance, while blogging something bad about a person or group of people the author knows may make her feel better, millions of people can read this and take it the wrong way. Also, once she posts the comment on there, she can’t take it back. This scenario has happened before and will likely happen again if nothing is done about it soon.