Final Thoughts

Hello everybody!

Today is a sad day because today’s post is my final post – which means I’ll be concluding my final thoughts, as well as tying my data and findings back to my thesis.

In the beginning, I stated that my thesis would argue that the factor of anonomity for the citizens of Habbo Hotel allows for a realistic formation of identity – one that parallels the users real-life identity. In contrast, Twitter users construct an aspirational identity (alternatively referred to as “the best-self” or Goffman’s “front-stage”) in which they market to their social network, as well as the larger Twitter community.

Looking back at my thesis, I don’t think I was completely wrong, yet I don’t think I was completely right either.

I think time and time again, I was able to justify my thesis – especially through the participant observation stages. During my Twitter observation for example, I noted consistent trends of “Me-Tweets” where users would only Tweet positive things about themselves to their followers. This trend continued when I analyzed community Twitter accounts, where the notion of the ‘favourite’ or ‘re-tweet’ was used as a means of validation for the aspirational identity these users would create for themselves. Interviewee B also justified my thesis through the majority of her answers – e.g., purposely constructing Tweets to receive the ‘re-tweets’ and ‘favourites’, observing others who Tweet in a way that contrasts with their real-life identity, etc.

My thesis pertaining to Habbo was also justified, when I noted a Habbo user confiding to another user about their real-life identity due to the factors of anonymity, escapism, and reciprocity. Even during the Habbo interviews, the amount of users who stated the contrast between their online and offline identities was significant – especially when they themselves noted the reason for this was due to the factors of escapism and anonymity.

However, during the Twitter interview, interviewee A stated something that put my entire study into perspective.

“Something one must understand is that you cannot compare your profile or how you act on Twitter to how you act in real life; “life offline” is so broad and there are so many aspects to it so it’s impossible to try to compare life as a whole to Twitter…They’re just completely different scenarios [reality and ‘virtuality’] and cannot be compared to prove someone’s authenticity as a person.”

Although I agree that in the larger picture my thesis is justifiable in terms of how identity is constructed and functions between these two virtual communities, I do agree that identity is subjective to each individual user in both virtual communities. You can see that in both interviews, users approached the notion of identity in ways that contested my thesis. For some Twitter users, the platform is used as an extension of their real-life identity – an alternative or virtual setting to be themselves. Habbo functions similarly in the way that many users use it to be someone they’re not – e.g., joining mobs, role-playing as babies or animals, etc.

So to conclude, as stated by interviewee A, inevitably, it is difficult to portray your entire identity on a virtual platform – especially since the notion of identity is subjective to each individual user.

Interview #2: Habbo

This time around I thought I would do something a bit different. Instead of posting a formal transcript of my Habbo interview, I thought, “hey, maybe I should film the experience for my readers instead!” Which is exactly what I did.

Rather than conducting a structured interview, I asked Habbo users one open-ended question (which is actually my research question): How do you compare your real-life identity to your identity on Habbo?

And these were the results. Enjoy!

Interview #1: Twitter

So a couple of days have passed since I’ve last posted. Over the course of the weekend, I created an interview schedule (which is a guide interviewers use to conduct structured interviews) in order to find answers to my second research question: How do the citizens of Twitter compare their offline identity to their online identity?

My interview schedule consists of six questions relating to the second research question. For the interview, I decided to interview two people. This way, it is easier to compare and contrast the individual subjectivities that arise in relation to identity construction and identification in the online and offline worlds.

I will label each respondent as either A or B. Both answers for each question will be posted together, rather than separately. So let’s get started!

1. How would you describe yourself in real life?

A: I would describe myself as an; outgoing, funny, and easy to get along with type of person in real life.

B: I would say I’m a kind, humorous, and an outgoing person.

2. How would you describe yourself on Twitter?

A: On Twitter I believe I have the same characteristics as I do in real life, because my Twitter essentially just a medium in which I use to express my thoughts, beliefs, information etc.

B: Humorous and entertaining at times.

3. Do you think your profile is a mirroring representation of your offline identity?

A: I do believe it is, but something one must understand is that you cannot compare your profile or how you act on Twitter to how you act in real life; “life offline” is so broad and there are so many aspects to it so it’s impossible to try to compare life as a whole to Twitter. Essentially Twitter is emulating an open discussion in real life, in that case it would represent it perfectly (in my case), but in settings such as; someone walking down the street, or on a bus, you cannot expect them to exactly mirror the persona they have on Twitter, because a person is expected to act differently sitting on a bus opposed to a person speaking within an open discussion, where expression is encouraged. They’re just completely different scenarios and cannot be compared to prove someone’s authenticity as a person.

B: Back when I first started tweeting, I think a huge part of the entertainment value was getting an amazing amount of ‘retweets’ and ‘favourites.’ So in order to get the ‘retweets’ and the ‘favourites,’ you would have to tweet based on trends, or even tweet overly personal things (well you didn’t have to, but that in itself was almost like a trend). So I would, but eventually found it immature and strange. Looking back at it now, I wonder why I did that exactly, but now I have completely changed my Twitter personality to one that is more organic to my offline personality. This basically means that I tweet things that don’t get a lot of replies or ‘favourites’ etc. but it’s more true to my thoughts and feelings.

4. Have you ever noticed a difference between your friends’ personality in real life and their personality online? 

A: No. I just realize that my friends cannot act the way they do on Twitter in every setting, but in more casual or laid-back settings there are rarely any differences.

B: Yes. There are definitely tons of people who use Twitter to voice their opinions – especially people who do not normally voice these things in real life. People seem to also use it and show off a different version of themselves. By this I mean using words they normally would not use,in order to try to seem “cooler” by promoting ideas or values that do not correlate with their real life personalities.

5. What makes you want to delete a Tweet? 

A: Deleting a tweet for me is basically taking back what I said. The difference with social media and real life is that we have the opportunity to review what we say, evaluate it, change our opinions and take it back. So basically, if I say something that I do not believe in or regret saying, I would feel compelled to delete it.

B: If I tweet something in the moment out of anger or sadness etc. and I don’t feel the same way afterwards, I will most likely delete it.

6. What does a ‘Re-tweet’ or a ‘Favourite’ mean to you?

A: A favourite or retweet is very subjective, because it means different things for different people. Meaning, a girlfriend favouriting a tweet she is displeased with could be her letting you know that she saw the tweet; while some people may use it to flirt; others may genuinely love the tweet and favourite it. The same things apply to a retweet. Again, it’s very subjective and it heavily depends on who is doing the “favouriting” or “retweeting” and their experience/relationship with me. 

B: Depends on whom it is from or how many I get. In my earlier tweeting days, it meant that people agreed or liked what I said. The more ‘retweets’ or ‘favourites’ I got, the cooler I felt about my tweets. But now, if my tweet is ‘retweeted’ or ‘favourited,’ I take it as, “these people understand me.”

My next post will follow the same structure, but instead I’ll be interviewing users on Habbo!