People's habits are always the same despite their settings. However, as setting change, they change how they exhibit these behaviors, but the underlying reason stays the same. The world of online social interaction, although different, still bears similarities to the face-to-face interaction scenario observed by Erving Goffman. Social interactions always marked these interactions trying to size out the individual they are interacting with while trying to get a favorable perception of the individuals they interact with (Goffman). I such scenarios symbolic representation is critical for shaping the perception of the individual they are interacting with. People smile and try to appear warm and approachable to get favorable perceptions from their targets. They dress appropriately and act out an identity they expect to be accepted in a given social context (Flynn, 2021a). However, it is always challenging to find out about the individual one is talking to or whether such an individual is trustworthy or who they say they are. Online social interactions, on the other hand, enable people to perform the above activities effectively. Online people can favorably represent themselves. They choreograph an identity and present it (Flynn, 2021a). They can even fake their identity to get a favorable response from those they are interacting with. However, online social interaction also provides people an opportunity to find out who they are interacting with. They can search online to source out information about their audience and determine who they claim to be.
The greatest difference between online and face-to-face interaction is the anonymity or privacy the online interaction grants the user. With online interaction, it is impossible to see one's facial reactions and evaluate the congruency of symbolic representations of self. The facial reaction is the greatest tool for nonverbal and figurative communication (Flynn, 2021b). As people interact in face-to-face interaction, they can see each other's facial experiences and symbolic representation and understand their audience. Similarly, they have access to their audience's body language and can test for congruency. They can understand whether their audience is comfortable or uncomfortable with the conversation or whether they are knowledgeable. They can also determine whether their audience is being honest or not. However, individuals are usually behaving like performers by acting to protect their true emotions or personality. They use symbolic gestures to shape perception. Unlike social medial, in face-to-face interaction, people use several strategies and tacking to define themselves and the social situation. For online interaction it is easy to manage one performance in the course of the interaction in the course of the interactions.
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References
Flynn, William. (2021a, February 2). SOCI 2005A Week 4 Lesson Erving Goffman. Mediaspace . https://mediaspace.carleton.ca/media/SOCI+2005A+Week+4+Lesson+Erving+Goffman/1_z6ns3dr5
Flynn, William. (2021b). Winter Term Module 4 Lesson: Erving Goffman . [PowerPoint slides] https://culearn.carleton.ca/moodle/pluginfile.php/4418223/mod_page/content/3/Winter%20Term%20Module%204%20Lesson%20Student%20Version%20Erving%20Goffman%20SOCI%202005A.pptx
Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life . https://culearn.carleton.ca/moodle/pluginfile.php/4418223/mod_page/content/3/%20Goffman%20Intro%20to%20Presentation%20of%20Self%20copy%202-2.pdf
