Nonverbal Displays of Self-Presentation and Sex Differences in Profile Photographs on MySpace.com

This study was designed to identify the ways in which people present themselves online in the social network environment of MySpace, and whether self-presentation differs by the sex of the user. Content analysis was conducted on a sample of 300 public profiles from MySpace.com. Results indicate significant relationships between intimidating behaviors and the intended audience, and intimidating behaviors and the user’s sex. Additionally, there was a relationship between the user’s sex and nonverbal behaviors displayed. Self Presentation on MySpace 3 Nonverbal Displays of Self-Presentation and Sex Differences in Profile Photographs on MySpace.com Social network websites are becoming an increasingly popular form of computermediated communication (CMC), combining many of the features that once required membership to several websites and services, but are now available in a “one stop shop” at sites like MySpace and Facebook. These websites have exploded in popularity in recent years, with users numbering in the hundreds of millions (Kornblum, 2006; Newland, 2007). According to comScore (2008), visitors to social network websites have grown 34% in the past year to 530 million visits, which represent two out of every three internet users. In particular, MySpace.com recently ranked number three on the January 2009 Hitwise internet rankings, with a larger (US) market share of visits than Yahoo, MSN and YouTube (Hitwise, 2009). This immense popularity makes MySpace a particularly compelling social phenomenon for research. Users of social networking websites take advantage of CMC to influence how others perceive them through their employment of text-based and visual presentation strategies. One aspect of self presentation involves how biological sex is “performed” to match, or challenge, societal constructions of gender. Danet (1996) refers to this sociological phenomenon, stating that from an early age, individuals try to signal that they are male or female, maintaining their self-presentation in accordance with their culture’s view of gender. Then again, CMC users may experiment with their gender identity in on-line interactions (Danet, 1998), possibly challenging gender stereotypes. According to Graddol and Swann (1989), people can “pull rank, express intimacy, or show respect [through talk]. If women and men carry out different kinds of activities in conversation, this will affect not only the local management of talk, but also how women and men are able to relate to one another” (p. 69). In this study, we examine how MySpace users Self Presentation on MySpace 4 present themselves to other computer users through the photographs they include on their homepage as well as their profile description, and the extent to which these self presentations are associated with the user’s sex. The purpose of this study is to compare the online presentation of self using nonverbal behaviors found in profile photographs to other types of self-presentation found in CMC and face-to-face interactions and the relationship to the sex of the user. Literature Review Computer-Mediated Communication and MySpace Social networking sites are relatively new interfaces for CMC. Prior research on CMC has focused on text-based electronic mail and newsgroups, as they were the first popular forms of CMC to be widely researched (Culnan & Markus, 1987; Kiesler, 1987; Sproull & Kiesler, 1986), followed by internet-based forms of CMC like personal homepages (Dominick, 1999; Papacharissi, 2002), web logs (Bortree, 2005; Trammell & Keshelashvili, 2005), and online dating sites (Ellison, Heino & Gibbs, 2006; Gibbs, Ellison & Heino, 2006). Much of the early CMC research used a “cues filtered out approach” due to the absence of nonverbal cues available to users of email and other text-based media (Culnan & Markus, 1987; Kiesler, 1987; Sproull & Kiesler, 1986; Sussman & Sproull, 1999). According to this model, text based media are inappropriate for some social tasks because of the reduced social cues available in these types of mediated communication. Joseph Walther and Malcolm Parks (2002), however, noted that deep interpersonal relationships do form on the internet and stated that “the internet is a profoundly social medium” (p. 530). They found that online relationships developed at a slower pace than face-to-face (FtF) relationships, but they are no less personal. It is exactly the personal, interactive nature of MySpace that makes it unique among text-based CMC and stand-alone personal homepages. Self Presentation on MySpace 5 Social network websites differ from text-only mediated communication largely through the ability to convey additional cues through photography and other personalization. Whereas Herring (2004) stated that users have not yet embraced the full potential of CMC to incorporate audio and visual messages in their on-line communication, social networking sites provide a way for users to take advantage of both text-based and visual communication. Qian and Scott (2007) surveyed 207 individuals who have a personal weblog, finding that nearly 70% of the respondents included a potentially identifying picture on their blog. They also found that 51% of the respondents wrote their personal blog for individuals they know offline, and 42% were worried about the negative consequences of blogging. Despite their capacity for communicating information about the author, photographs have not been systematically analyzed in previous studies examining self-presentation on personal homepages (Dominick, 1999; Papacharissi, 2002) or blogs (Trammell & Keshelashvili, 2005). Given the extent to which individuals include photographs in their CMC, and their concern about how they may be perceived, it is important to analyze the impression that the visuals may leave on the viewers of their social networking site. MySpace allows users to interact with each other in a visually rich atmosphere, with tools designed to allow an online representation of self. One of the most prominent features on the page in the default setup is the user photograph, which is displayed in the upper left-hand corner of the page. As the viewer reads left to right from the top of the page, the photograph is the first thing that they will see. The profile picture will be the primary profile feature analyzed in this study because of its prominence on the page, and its capacity to communicate the author’s self through nonverbal behaviors. Because on-line photographs have not been systematically studied, one of the challenges of the present study is to develop a framework in which photographs could be analyzed for self-presentation behaviors in the context of social network websites. The next Self Presentation on MySpace 6 section reviews research on self presentation theory to help create such a framework. Self Presentation Theory One of the fundamental questions underlying development of this study asked how people present themselves on MySpace, and how their self presentation strategies are related to their biological sex. Goffman’s (1959) self-presentation theory used dramatic metaphors to explain the way people presented themselves in different everyday situations. He theorized that people act as “performers” who strategically present certain impressions by accentuating some things about themselves and concealing others from the audience. In FtF interactions, performers can use “props” like dress, grooming, and sometimes furniture and surroundings to “set the stage” for their self-presentation performances. Nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, posture, and gestures are other tools that a performer may use in addition to speech to convey these impressions. Although the theory was originally developed to explain selfpresentational behaviors in FtF interactions, it has since been applied to various interactional settings, including everyday situations (Nezlek & Leary, 2002) and driving (Basset, Cate & Dabbs, 2002), and CMC contexts including email (Gradis, 2003), personal websites (Dominick, 1999; Kim & Papacharissi, 2003; Papacharissi, 2002), web logs (Bortree, 2005; Trammell & Keshelashvili, 2005), and online personals (Ellison, Heino & Gibbs, 2006; Gibbs, Ellison & Heino, 2006). Jones (1990) extended Goffman’s theory by identifying common strategies for selfpresentation. His work suggested five strategies, which have been summarized by Dominick (1999) and whose definitions have been used in further self-presentation research (e.g., Trammell & Keshelashvili, 2005). Ingratiation is defined as having the goal of being liked by others. Some common characteristics of ingratiation are saying positive things about others or Self Presentation on MySpace 7 saying mildly negative things about oneself, statements of modesty, familiarity, and humor. Competence is described as having the goal of being perceived as skilled and qualified. Common characteristics include claims about abilities, accomplishments, performance, and qualifications. Intimidation is described as having power as a goal. Typical characteristics are threats, statements of anger, and potential unpleasantness. Exemplification is having the goal to be perceived as morally superior or possessing high moral standards. Characteristics include ideological commitment or militancy for a cause, self sacrifice, and self discipline. Finally, supplication is having the goal of nurturance or appearing helpless so that others will come to a person’s aid. Characteristics of this self-presentational approach include entreaties for help and self-deprecation (Dominick, 1999, p. 648). Overall, ingratiation and competence have been found to be the most commonly used strategies in FtF situations (Jones, 1990). Papacharissi (2002) describes personal homepages as ideally suited to self-presentation performances according to Goffman’s theory, because “the expressions given off are either minimal, or carefully controlled, or both” (p. 644). Given the amount of information available about each presentation strategy from previous research, the concepts of ingratiation and competence may be explored confidently using nonverbal behaviors and visual elements as indicators in the current study. The remaining three strategies have not been investigated as thoroughly, perhaps because they are exhibited less frequently. The information available for the intimidation and supplication strategies indicates that there are some nonverbal behaviors associated with those two strategies (Jones, 1990). Nonverbal indicators are necessary for the purposes of this study to assess whether the strategies are present in the profile photographs. Exemplification, however, is primarily assessed using spoken indicators (Jones, 1990). Because the focus of the current study is the relationship between the profile photograph and the profile Self Presentation on MySpace 8 information; measures of exemplification are not appropriate for the research being undertaken in this context. The remaining strategies (ingratiation, competence, intimidation and supplication) will be assessed in the profile photographs and profile information of MySpace users, particularly in terms of their association with their biological sex. Sex Differences and CMC There is a rich tradition of studying sex-based differences in CMC. Generally speaking, the research supports gender stereotypical behavior, where females use a more feminine language and style(e.g., intensifiers, self disclosure, references to emotions or relationships) and males use a more masculine style (e.g., aggressiveness, disagreement, humor), although similarities were also noted in the literature as well. For example, Guiller and Durndell (2007) used qualitative analysis to examine interactions between psychology students in a computermediated discussion group. They found that women employed more personal and emotional forms of language, such as disclosing personal information beyond opinions and feelings, while men tended to be more informative in nature. Gooden and Winefield (2006) found differences in the messages left by male and female visitors on cancer websites in that males tended to provide more informational support whereas females tended to provide more emotional support. On the other hand, Herring and Paolillo (2006) found little evidence to support gender differences in CMC, and instead attributed differences in language use to the type of blog being written (i.e., personal journal vs. filter blogs). Similarly, Huffaker and Calvert (2005) reported no gender differences in the use of emoticons, in references to other individuals, or the use of communal language in their examination of teenage weblogs, although they did find that males demonstrated more “sureness” than females. Self Presentation on MySpace 9 There is also a tradition of finding sex differences in self presentation strategies, starting with Goffman’s (1979) seminal work entitled Gender Advertisements (1979) where he extended his self-presentation theory to explain gender displays featured in advertising photographs of popular magazines. He posited that advertisements displayed “hyper-ritualizations” of social scenes, the majority of which served to subordinate females and reinforce the idea of male dominance. He identified several categories of behavior found in commercial photography: relative size, feminine touch, function ranking, family, ritualization of subordination and licensed withdrawal. Goffman’s sampling technique and coding methodology have received some criticism (Belknap & Leonard, 1991); however subsequent studies reporting more reliable methodologies have continued to find support for his ideas over time (Belknap & Leonard, 1991; Kang, 1997). Whereas there is no evidence that connects Goffman’s (1979) gender portrayals in advertising to the type of personal photography found in MySpace profiles, his gender variables may possibly be found in amateur photography, such as that found on MySpace. In MySpace, the tools available to the performers (users) are html-based, but users are able to creatively customize their own setting. Photographs in users’ profiles are able to convey not only their appearance, but also information about their personality through nonverbal cues and photographic technique or manipulation. Profile information and user-generated text approximate spoken information, while photographs and images approximate non-verbal communication and information about the setting. Replicating Goffman’s gender advertisement analysis in the context of MySpace is beyond the scope of this study; however, his definitions of dominating and supplicating postures will be added to the measures from nonverbal communication research in this analysis to operationalize Jones’ (1999) intimidation and Self Presentation on MySpace 10 supplication strategies, respectively. To further connect Goffman’s ideas of self-presentation and his ideas of gender portrayals in photography with the self presentation styles put forth by Jones (1999), the following research question is posed: RQ1: Is there a relationship between a user’s self-reported sex and the types of selfpresentation exhibited on MySpace? Dominick (1999) conducted a landmark study using content analysis to examine personal homepages from a self-presentation perspective. He identified common features of homepages and examined how people used self-presentation strategies to present themselves online. Dominick used Jones’ (1990) five self-presentation strategies to categorize home pages and measured levels of self-disclosure by the presence or absence of personal information. This study did note whether or not the homepages included a photograph of the author, but did not attempt to analyze the photograph itself. He found that ingratiation was the strategy used the most, followed by competence. These results are consistent with findings in FtF interactions. Although the majority of the sample contained pages authored by males, Dominick found sex differences in the amount of self-disclosure on the pages. Consistent with FtF interaction, females tended to disclose more personal information about themselves. Similarly, Trammell and Keshelashvili (2005) examined “A-list” blogs from a listing of the most popular blogs. Building on Goffman’s self-presentation theory, and using Jones’ strategies for self-presentation, this researchers content analyzed blogs for self-disclosure and self-presentation strategies. They found that bloggers disclosed a moderate amount of personal information about themselves, and used the strategies of ingratiation and competence most frequently. The study found that the majority of the blogs were authored by males (70.8%), and that there were sex differences in the types of information presented in the blog. The results of Self Presentation on MySpace 11 the study showed that female bloggers tended to write about more personal subject matter and men’s blogs tended to be more informational in nature. The sex differences in self-disclosure found in blogging and online dating literature indicate that similar differences may be found in the context of MySpace. Although CMC research has found that male users tend to write more text in task-related interactions (Guiller & Durndell, 2007; Sussman & Tyson, 2000; Yates, 2001), previous studies in online self-presentation have not examined the amount of information written in description of the self. Online self-presentation research has found that female users tend to disclose more personal and emotional information (Dominick, 1999; Trammell & Keshelashvili, 2005), which is more appropriate in the context of a social network website than in task-related interactions. Therefore, it is not known whether the amount of text written in a profile will follow the patterns established by CMC or if they will deviate from the results of CMC research because of the different environment in a social network website. Indeed, Herring and Paolillo (2006) found that both males and females used “female” preferential features (e.g., referring to others, relationships) in their personal blogs. To build upon and add to the findings of these previous studies, the following questions may be asked in relation to MySpace: RQ2: Is there a relationship between MySpace user’s self-reported sex and the amount of text written in the “About me” section and various “Interest” categories? Nonverbal Displays and Sex If written text in MySpace profiles may be considered analogous to speech, then the behaviors exhibited in photographic representations must be considered to analyze nonverbal information. As such, a critical way in which the profile photographs on MySpace can be analyzed is through the nonverbal behavior exhibited in the profile photograph. Mehrabian Self Presentation on MySpace 12 (1972) defined nonverbal behavior as communication “actions distinct from speech” (p. 1). In an online context like MySpace, communication is a combination of still photography, text and emoticons or graphics. Online authors must supplement text with nonverbal cues that are usually present in FtF communication, and viewers must “fill in” information using the cues available in an online environment (Walther, 2006). A visually rich environment like MySpace offers users the ability to supplement text with photographs and graphics with which they may construct an identity for the audience. Nonverbal elements of self-presentation are an important part of Goffman’s (1959) selfpresentation theory and Jones’ (1990) self-presentation strategies. Both works emphasize the importance of the nonverbal behavior (expressions, gestures, clothing and context) that accompanies verbal behavior in FtF interactions. In the context of MySpace, senders strategically select photographs with the intention that they will be received in a particular way. They project information through their nonverbal language, clothing and context which they intend to be received by people who view their profile. Previous research in the area of nonverbal communication (Ekman & Friesen, 1975; Tracy & Robins, 2003) suggests that many of these things can depicted in photography and be subsequently decoded by viewers. There are a number of nonverbal signals that are relevant to photographs on social networking sites. First, Knapp and Hall (2002) explain that perceivers tend to pay more attention to signals communicated in the face than in other communication channels. This concept is called facial primacy, which is defined as the tendency to give more weight to the expressions of the face. The idea of facial primacy may derive from the long-held belief that the “face reveals a great deal about a person’s personality or character” (Knapp & Hall, 2002, p. 306) and is a “tool for self presentation” (p. 335). Indeed, the profile photograph on MySpace is one of the first Self Presentation on MySpace 13 things a viewer sees, and as such, is one of the primary sources of information about the person’s character and personality in the viewer’s estimation. If the face is smiling, for example, they person will likely be seen as happy, pleasant, non-threatening (Ekman & Friesen, 1975; Knapp & Hall, 2002; Mehrabian, 1971; Richmond & McCroskey, 2004) and has been associated with the ingratiation and competence self presentation strategies (Jones, 1990). Second, elements of the hand and body also carry meaning. For instance, hands may be used as an expressive tool as well, most literally in the use of emblems. Emblems were identified by Ekman and Friesen (1972) as “nonverbal acts (a) which have a direct verbal translation usually consisting of a word or two, or a phrase (b) for which this precise meaning is known by most of all members of a group. . .(c) which are most often deliberately used” (p. 357). The meanings of most emblems are specific to a particular group or culture. For example, emblems such as “flicking off” someone by raising the middle finger, or flashing a “peace sign” with the index and middle fingers raised in a “v” are emblems that are readily recognizable to most people in the United States (Knapp & Hall, 2002). Body position and posture have also been widely identified by researchers as having meaning in different interactional situations. Mehrabian (1972) posited that attitudes such as evaluation and liking could be communicated by posture and position cues. These behaviors may be translated photographically into the MySpace context where the viewer may use these cues to make judgments about the user’s character and personality. Therefore, they must be considered as a part of the user’s photographic self-presentation. Differences in nonverbal communication behaviors may be attributed to the subject’s sex in addition to environmental factors. Hall and Friedman (1999) studied several sex and status differences exhibited in nonverbal behavior in a workplace. Consistent with previous literature, Self Presentation on MySpace 14 their study found that women and men express different levels of nonverbal behavior, including smiling, gazing, nodding, expressiveness, self-touching, and gesturing. The results of the study showed that women were found to smile, nod, touch, and gaze more than men (Hall & Friedman, 1999). A study by Luxen (2005) used evolution theory to predict that men would show more dominant behaviors (closed posture, head shaking and discouraging gestures) in a demanding interaction and women would show more affiliative behaviors (nodding, laughing and open body position). The “demanding interaction” was an interview assessment in a job application situation. Luxen was able to find significant evidence that men displayed more dominant nonverbal behaviors, while women showed more affiliative behaviors. Then again, such differences may be less prevalent in an on-line environment particularly of the individuals want to present a gender identity contrary to their biological sex (Herring & Martinson, 2004). Based on the sex differences found in previous nonverbal literature, the following question may be addressed in regards to the nonverbal behavior found in the MySpace environment: RQ3: Is there a relationship between a user’s self-identified sex and the types of nonverbal behavior exhibited in profile photographs on Myspace? Method Sampling A random sample of 300 public MySpace profiles was selected using the site’s “browse” engine, sorting results by users with the most recent “login”. The browse engine yields 3000 profiles, from which every tenth profile was selected using a random starting point. Profiles that were obviously intended to advertise adult websites were excluded from the study. Without a comprehensive list of the MySpace population, this is the best available way to choose a random sample of MySpace profiles. Shelton and Skalski (2007) used a similar method to draw a Self Presentation on MySpace 15 sample of Facebook profiles. The MySpace profiles were chosen using the broadest age range available due to the constraints of the engine, within 18-68 years of age. No other constraints were specified in the search. The profiles were archived using MHTML format, which saves all html, text and photos into a single file. MHTML is superior to the PDF format for saving html files, as it maintains the maximum integrity of the original file. The drawback to archiving pages this way is that dynamic content like streaming music, video, or java applications is lost. However, this method is adequate for the purposes of this study, in which the profile photo and text will be the focus of the analysis.