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Saudi women's identities on Facebook: Context collapse, judgement, and the imagined audience
Author(s) -
Alsaggaf Rania M.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the electronic journal of information systems in developing countries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.41
H-Index - 18
ISSN - 1681-4835
DOI - 10.1002/isd2.12070
Subject(s) - judgement , presentation (obstetrics) , context (archaeology) , construct (python library) , sociology , cyberpsychology , narrative , social psychology , psychology , social media , epistemology , computer science , world wide web , art , history , medicine , philosophy , literature , archaeology , radiology , programming language
As social networking sites present opportunities to construct identities, they also present challenges. This article explores women's experiences with Facebook in the Saudi context by looking at how their self‐presentation strategies and audience management might constitute a unique use of Facebook. The study utilises a mix of qualitative methods of research and extends Goffman's dramaturgical approach to consider more complex settings wherein the self is monitored and regulated, contexts “collapse,” the self is judged, and judgement by others is imagined. The findings reveal that different aspects of women's identities are constructed, gendered, and tightly managed as they address multiple audiences, with networks being formed in a way that has relatively narrowly defined boundaries.