Why do we possess different personality in real and virtual world?

Written by- Shaiful Alam

The caption “on the internet, nobody knows you’re dog” used in New Yorker cartoon [2] gives a very good idea about the notion, how different our personality is in real and virtual world. If we are digging for the reason behind it, personality theories give us a very good idea. Behavioral Theories (by B.F Skinner and John B Watson) suggest that personality is a result of the interaction and learning between an individual and the environment. And we can relate the virtual and real environment around our different persona in different worlds. Virtual reality is more like ‘man-maid’ and controlled. It is meant to be nice and ‘tiptop’. On the other hand, the reality around us was developed in more like uncontrolled way with a lot of uncontrolled variables.
 

The world is biased towards extroversion [1]. And ‘being wanted’ is desired by most of the personalities by nature. In virtual world we have this opportunity to express ourselves in a way we want to. That might be the reason, extroversion is most popular trait people shows or want to show in virtual world.

During the early ages the use of virtual world for people were limited. But with time it has raised in a way that today it is unenviable not to have a virtual identity for most of the technology users. According to the Guardian Uk adults are spending more than 20 hours a week which is twice as much as 10 years ago [2]. That means in present everyone is being observed for a longer period of time. From that context, it should be unreal that a person have very different personality in real and virtual life. In my opinion, now a days in virtual life people reveal their partial image of inner-self. They only show their part of personality that presents them as not very distant, but somehow a bit different version of how they are in real life.

If we are talking about using this insight in designing technologies, the first thing comes to mind is making the user interface friendlier in a way where user can express themselves how they want. That involves giving the control to user to show what they really want to show outside world and what they don’t.

From the point where everyone likes to express their extrovert traits, it can be a good idea to involve the opportunity of communication with other users. As an example, If any user is sharing something for outside world to see, user must be expecting some kind of feedback about their content. That makes the appearance more real and satisfying.



Sources:
[1] Lecture slide 10, Psychology of pervasive computing- TIE-40106 2018.

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/sep/24/online-offline-personality-digital-identity.

What norms should we follow on social media?

Written by Petja Makkonen & Mika Liukkonen

Social media, just like real life & other media, needs norms. World without norms would be catastrophic and same would apply to social media as well. If you have visited any unmonitored online platforms, you probably get the idea.

Commonly acknowledged norms for individuals in social media

Probably one of the most important norms in social media is asking for permission to post. This is especially true when it comes to pictures, but it should also be considered whenever making a post about a person or company overall. In a large, organized group picture it’s generally expected that permission to post the picture is not needed from every single individual in the photo, rather generic “Mind if I post this” is enough in the situation. It’s not socially acceptable to deny posting rights when participating in a large group picture.

However, when it comes to smaller group pictures (usually four or less) it’s socially acceptable for individual to deny posting rights.

Social creeping is destigmatized form of online stalking. While it’s socially acceptable, it can still be seen as violation of privacy & against norms of social media. Determined creeper is able to find plenty of information from today’s digital natives and for example accidentally liking 10 year old post in facebook would still be considered embarrassing in most scenarios.

One, sometimes expensive mistake individual can make in social media is talk bad about their company or boss. If you post it online, your boss can see it. Therefore one commonly acknowledged norm in social media is definitely “Don’t post anything your boss can’t see”.

In addition for individual norms, social media users are expected to publish only authentic information (no fakes or overly self-promotional) and are expected to publish often enough. Nobody is expected to publish 10 times a day, but social network profile is expected to be one’s living online identity with regular updates.

Acknowledged norms in the use of social media for companies

Just like norms in social media for individuals, norms for social media exists for companies also. One would say, that these norms are followed even more intensively than norms for individuals. This is because there is a lot more at stake. Breaking the norms usually causes a bigger reaction in other people, since one can say that companies represent a wider group. Also the actions by companies can be described more severe, since companies have a lot more power over everything than individuals.

Companies usually follow these norms actively, because they do not want to be associated with bad behavior and therefor lose customers. One of these norms is that you do not mix your personal and your business identities online. You do not want to for example mix your personal opinions about something with your company’s name.

Another norm is to carefully plan what you are saying in social media by your company’s half. This is why there are people hired just to do the social media posting for the company. This is how you can keep your company’s picture clear and straightforward in social media.

Companies social media game usually follow a lot more people than some individual’s. For a wider group of people the company’s social media acts need to be considered more carefully. Usually the company is also aware of its audience and knows how to properly to act to norms that these people are keen of.

The norm above reflects to maybe most important norm for companies in social media and elsewhere. Do not underestimate or consider your customers to be stupid. The saying ‘’customer is always right’’ is also as valid in social media than in real life. Always respect the customer. Respecting the customer does not only mean that do not be mean to them, but answering to questions and providing help in social media also.

 

Reference:

1) Ahtinen, Aino and Chowhury, Aparajita. 2018. Psychology of Pervasive Computing lectures. Tampere University of Technology.

2) http://worthhiding.com/2017/07/27/the-norms-of-social-media/

3) Clara Shih, 2010. Facebook Era, The: Tapping Online Social Networks to Market, Sell, and Innovate, 2nd Edition

4) https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-etiquette-rules-for-business/