SOCIOLOGY & SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

A sociological account of social net working sites



A sociological account of social net working sites

Sociology and Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites have a strong impact on the lives of people in the current era. It has influenced the ways of interaction, speaking, communication and maintaining relationships with each other. There are several advantages of social networking sites but it also holds some dangers and threats. The sociological impacts of social networking sites are larger that can be imagined. The use of social networking sites has almost eliminated the boundaries between the private and public lives of people. The concept of social life can be related to the social networking sites. One of the most popular and widely used theories in sociology is the Dramaturgy concept or perspective. This concept in the field of sociology has been derived by the sociologist Erving Goffman (Goffman, 1959). The concept of dramaturgy includes the self representation by the people in order to create their image and impression in front of other people. This concept can be related and associated to the social networking sites because people tend to provide certain information on social networking pages and blogs in order to create their self identity and image in front of audiences (Phillipson et al. 2004). The concepts of backstage and front stage are the important concepts in understanding the nature of the people on the social networking sites. These concepts are presented by Goffman under the concept of dramaturgy (Goffman, 1959). In this paper, a brief account of backstage and front stage perspectives of people is presented and an account of the association of backstage and front stage with the social networking sites is provided.

Dramaturgy

In the sociological perspective of dramaturgy, it is considered that the actions of the human beings are relied upon the place, time and audience. According to Goffman, there is a sense of oneself in each person that influence the actions and presentation of a person in front of others. There are three regions or stages in which people represents their information and roles (Goffman, 1959). One is the front stage, second is back stage and last is the outside stage. In this paper we will discuss the association of front stage and backstage representation of people with the social networking sites. The concept of dramaturgy includes the self representation by the people in order to create their image and impression in front of other people. This concept can be related and associated to the social networking sites because people tend to provide certain information on social networking pages and blogs in order to create their self identity and image in front of audiences.

Front Stage

According to Goffman, front stage is the place where a person performs or represents sometimes in order to convince the audience. In terms of social networking sites, the representation of the impression or image of a person in front of the audience is the front stage perspective (Goffman, ...