Social Media, Identity, and Context Collapse

Meri Nasilyan-Lowe, SFHEA, Digital Transformative Education, Carnegie School of Education, Leeds Beckett University

Possibly, only a few people would have failed to notice the grand emergence of social media over the decade. Even the most casual of internet users will now be aware of the notion of social network sites and blogs, maybe even wikis and virtual worlds (Selwyn, 2011). According to Shirky (2008), the reason that social media became so widespread lies in the mass-socialisation - the power of the collective actions of online user communities rather than individual users. But the idea of a collective community is not a recent concept at all. As computer scientists are quick to point out, most of the new characteristics of social media existed long before the advent of Facebook. Since the early 1970s, internet applications have allowed users to exchange messages with each other, maintain personal profiles, curate lists of ‘friends’ and write blog-like journal entries. It is therefore important to remember from the outset that ‘the web has always been social’ (Halpin and Tuffield, 2010). And as Christakis and Fowler (2009) conclude, ‘as part of a social network, we transcend ourselves for good or ill and become a part of something much larger’ (p.30). So, is this the potential answer as to why we are drawn to social media - for reaching something much larger? And what about its perceptions in higher education? 

Social media constitute an increasingly important context wherein individuals live their everyday lives. Indeed, some commentators talk of the ‘networked self’—acknowledging the importance of social media as a key site of sociality and identity performance in many people’s lives (Papacharissi, 2010). As such, the most immediate significance of social media for higher education is the changing nature of the students who are entering university. In a practical sense, the highly connected, collective, and creative qualities of social media applications are seen to reflect (and to some extent drive) more flexible, fluid, and accelerated ways of being. Social media are therefore associated with an increased tendency for young people to multitask, to rely on a ‘digital juggling’ of daily activities and commitments (Subrahmanyam and Šmahel, 2011). First, the advancement of social technologies has supported students’ construction of understanding and improved interaction. Then, the additional benefit of the social technologies provided on the internet is frequently free and requires marginal investment, which eliminates a potential barrier to adaptation. 

“The connections that students make with classmates through social media can impact the learning environment and participation in such communities creates a more collaborative and communicative learning setting”

But to what extent do universities make a connection with their students through social media practices? Some educators point toward an ever-growing digital disconnect between students and their educational institutions. Here it is argued that even well-intentioned universities are able only to offer their students an artificially regulated and constrained engagement with social media. Thus, alongside other institutions such as schools, libraries, and museums, universities are seen to face distrust and a growing loss of faith among younger generations (Downes, 2010).  

We often read that social media and virtual communities help students be interconnected, interdependent, and more engaged with their peers. And as Annetta et al. (2009) state, students who participate in virtual communities as part of their class feel more connected to their classmates. The connections that students make with classmates through social media can impact the learning environment that is created. Participation in such communities creates a more collaborative and communicative learning setting for students as it enables them to have discussions and interactions with their peers (Heafner & Friedman, 2008). According to Kahn (1999), the growth of the Internet gives a chance to continuously create new content, and interactive type of learning, and sustain collaborative environments. As a result, the users themselves start creating more and more of this content and knowledge. Accordingly, do we think that learner identity can change in different settings? 

Ellison (2013) states that identity is a construct that tells the way we think about ourselves and our role in larger social environments. Also, it is passed through social interactions with others and our relationships with them. In online settings such as social network sites, virtual communities, chat rooms, or discussion groups, identity processes are complicated because many identity cues (such as gender or age) are masked and can be purposefully shared, hidden, withheld, or misrepresented (Sunden, 2003). According to the author, these affordances enable the users to be selective in terms of self-presentation when presenting identity, ‘enact multiple identities in online settings simultaneously’ (p.2). When talking about students’ identity in online versus offline spaces, Walther and Parks (2002) describe how some kinds of online cues signal a link between one’s online and offline self. According to the authors, students tend to have different identities in social media as compared to the classroom setting. This is an interesting process to observe and there might be many underlying processes that make the students have different identities. This underlying process, according to Boyd, (2010) is called context collapse. It describes the possible processes associated with students’ online self-presentation and identity management (Boyd, 2010; Marwick & Boyd, 2011). Context collapse is the process through which students manage their identities in online and offline settings accordingly. 

This further explains the idea that it's not the audience that is important, but rather the context within that audience. So, it's not who learners share it with but what they share as. Can we assume that social media and digital reality are still very much separate contexts from our offline social reality and education? And if so - do we need to bring those worlds closer together? 

Construction