This project explores the connection between information-seeking strategies used in impression formation and on self-presentation in social media. The goal is to amplify and quantify earlier findings of a recursive relationship between seeking and providing interpersonal information in social media environments (Ellison, Heino, & Gibbs 2006). This study builds on two trends identified by researchers. Using Ramirez, et al.’s (2002) model as a guide, it notes that due to changes in the ways in which social media is presented and consumed, the active and interactive strategies – while still important – are becoming increasingly less dominant over the passive and extractive strategies (Antheunis, Valkenburg, & Peter, 2010). Second, it notes that the “vocabulary” of social interaction in social media has expanded to include a whole raft of indirect interactions (liking, sharing, emoji, etc.) that carry meaning and information in ways that differ from the primarily text-based overt communications that characterized social media previously (McEwan, 2013; Oh, Ozkaya, & LaRose, 2014). This study supposes that there exists some connection between the increasing prevalence of passive and extractive types of social information seeking in social media, and the increasing prevalence of the use of indirect communication for the purposes of self-presentation and impression management. This study seeks to understand the nature of this connection by using a mixed-method approach in order to establish a holistic understanding of the interaction between information seeking, uncertainty reduction, and identity management in a single, cohesive theoretical structure. As such, qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to compose a model of information seeking and impression formation. Termed the “Identity Formation / Information Seeking (IF/IS)” Model, it is designed specifically for the investigation of behavior related to these phenomena in social media. It identifies five use types or “personas” that are both drawn from and applicable to quantitative and qualitative data. Further, this model identifies a set of variables that can be used to efficiently model behavior in each of these interaction modes. Finally, the model illustrates and measures changes in use patterns surrounding both information seeking (increasingly passive/extractive), and communication (increasingly indirect), providing some explanation for the convergent trends identified above.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Communication, Information and Library Studies
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_8903
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (xii, 169 p. : ill.)
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Social media
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Charles File
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
School of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore10001600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.