It has been several years ago since the internet has taken the world by storm with the advent of social media. Because of this, it seems like creating and maintaining a social media presence has become very relevant as people become more and more concerned about perception.
In the world of social media, almost everybody has an ideal self, and according to research, these personas vary based on the social media site, Phys.org reported. The study was conducted by the researchers from Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology and King's College in London.
These researchers have found that social media users adopt different personas based on the social media site, and according to The Indian Express, this does not mean that users explicitly modify their profiles, but what they do is that just adapt into a different behavior in order to fit in.
Penn State's Dongwon Lee, associate professor of IST, and Nishanth Sastry, senior lecturer of King's College explained that these varying personas emerge because of a person's desire to fit in with the specific culture of each site. According to Lee, the users have the tendency to portray themselves differently in different worlds.
In the research, the researchers were able to compile information from the 100,000 social media users who voluntarily gave their information. They have studied and analyzed the profile pictures and the biography provided by the users and have observed the differences with how they portray themselves.
Sastry explained that because social media has a huge influence and impact on its users, understanding how people interact with each other on social media is important in understanding how people relate to each other in meaningful ways even if it's done virtually.
