Sandie Ramirez- Mayorga Summary/Response #2

Sandie Ramirez- Mayorga Summary/Response to:

Herring, Susan C., Kapidzic, Sanja. "Teens, Gender and Self Presentation in Social Media." International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences. 2015. 2nd Ed.Oxford:Elsevier

Summary

In the article, Teens, Gender and Self Presentation in Social Media, authors Herring and Sanja bring to light the vast difference between young adult male and females on social media. Apparently 95% of teens in America have access to or participate on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Although it isn't surprising given that teens are more tech savvy than we were at their age, it is surprising that the percentage of adults using social media is only about 78%. The authors of the article also point out that although girls and boys social media use is about the same within both genders, their internet use is based off of completely different things. According to Herring and Sanja, "...female  participants from the I.S. reported that they pose 'cute' pictures, while male participants were more likely to share pictures and comments that they described as self-promoting and that contained sexual content or references to alcohol."(4) Self representation goes a long way and young adults definitely know this because of what they post. It is apparent that males are more daring to post things that they believe define them rather than being careful of their posts. The authors of the article also highlight the reason why female young adults care more about what they post in response to males' perspective of post by adding, "Female participants expressed more concern about future employers seeing some of their picture and comments especially those related to alcohol than males did..." (4) Although the participants are young, some still see the potential effect this will cause on future job placement. They also add a very import statistic informing that "... 1 in 10 young job applicants were rejected because of content they had posted on social media..."(4)

Herring and Sanja also talk about privacy within social media and the pictures young adults choose as their profile pictures. It is obvious that mostly everyone whom has a social media account studies their picture for acceptance, and as a result girls take longer to approve a profile picture than most boys. Although this appears to be true the content of the profile pictures are quite surprising. The authors point out the reality of choosing profile pictures by adding, "...the vast majority of girls posted profile photographs that presented them in a seductive manner..." while male young adult "...choose photos that showed them at a farther distance.."(5) On the other hand, although many young females chose 'seductive' pictures, their privacy settings happened to only be visible to their friends, which then begs the question, who are their friends. As a result it appears that "Girls' greater concerns about privacy and identity disclosure on social media sites may predispose them to interact with individuals they already know and trust." (5) Thus girls, seem to be a bit more personal with things they share on social media.

Also, the article goes on to describe the truthfulness through social media among the adolescents and expose that most of the time male young adults make their social media audiences perceive them as more masculine by things they share online where as girls have different perception sharing. According to the article "...girls who would describe themselves as "smart" or "kind" offline were more likely to post they were "fun", "funny," or "social" on social network sites, and girls with low self-esteem were somewhat more likely than girls with high self-esteem to describe themselves as "sexy" and "crazy"."(7) While girls and boys seem to know how they want to be perceived, it is important to note that audiences can see through this facade due to what they agree and disagree with. In terms of who the young adult on social media is, there is still a thin veil covering who they truly are even through masking their identity.

Response

This article was interesting to say the least. Since I am a middle school teacher, I could definitely see the correlation difference between what girls and boys share online. It is by far the most confusing time for these young adults because they change so rapidly and are influenced easily as well. What they once thought was interesting and cool may be different in a week. This in fact is what is important from what social media tells about an individual. I also thought it was important to note the fact that young females are so receptive to knowing what can affect their future. Like I posted in another summary, I was surprised when social media sharing was a question in an interview. Going back to my first response, it's easy to understand why some people use SL social media accounts to be who they want online without dealing with repercussions of what they shared or agreed to online. In this digital age of transparency its amazing to see that some are still being reverted into going anonymous or even creating a whole facade through a pseudonym. What I learned the most from this article is that young adults like any adult is careful about what they post on social media, whether it be male or female users.

Quotations

"Girls may be especially concerned  with assuring the privacy of their online profiles because of the greater tendency for females to be harassed online based on their gender."(6)

"...participants' personality scores reflected the observer rating better than the idealized self-descriptions. Thus while teens may consciously distort the truth to appear more attractive, they have less control over how their personality subconsciously influences their profile descriptions."(7)

"Males were more likely to use authoritative language and to respond negatively in interactions, while females were more likely to agree explicitly, support others, and make more personal and emotional contributions."(7)

"'...by looking at other's profiles teens get a sense of what types of presentations are socially appropriate' others' profiles provide critical cues about what to present on their own profile'." (9)

"More generally, social media sites provide a space where teens can explore the effects of their self-presented image on others. In many cases posting pictures and comments will generate positive feedback and could have a positive impact on teenagers' self-esteem."(9)