For this week’s exercise, I decided to enter the Internet world of MySpace and observe a user’s profile. Of course, the first things I look at on their page are age, gender, and location (to determine race). The user is a 19-year old male from
Then, I move on to the bulk of his profile, filled with video clips and surveys, to formulate an impression. The responses to the survey are short and basic, but he is sharing some personal information –leading me to believe that he is somewhat open. I got the impression that he was immature because some of the responses are childish (“yukky”, or “I like hitting things on my head”). However, I think he is slightly conscientious when he jokes around about weight and fat jokes. With regard to neuroticism, I believe it is difficult to determine through this media, judging by the array of Florida Gator décor on his page, he might be obsessed, but it is inconclusive. It was also hard to determine if he was extraverted or agreeable. These results are relatively similar to the findings in Handcock & Dunham (2001). The colors he chose for his page were bright, and gave off a welcoming vibe while portraying a warm personality, as opposed to the coldness associated with the Internet.
I think that both the Hyperpersonal and the Cues Filtered Out theories contributed to my overall impression of the user. I based my impressions off of limited cues (the brief survey and information) and ended up generalizing to form an overall negative impression. I know that this impression is undeveloped because the cues provided were limited to what I could find on his page. I made a stereotypical generalization based on those few facts, which concur with the Hyperpersonal model. Then I see that he is part of the “Redneck yacht club” group and it confirms my generalization. From the little information gathered, I concluded that he was in irresponsible and childish - an overall negative impression.
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http://comm245brown.blogspot.com/2007/09/my-new-chat-room-buddy.html
http://comm245brown.blogspot.com/2007/09/dissed-by-sox-girl.html
1 comment:
I am glad to see MySpace being used as an online space for this assignment. It is surprising that there isn't more, but I suppose it isn't a new space to explore for most.
MySpace is interesting to look at in terms of impression formation, because it is a very strong medium for self-presentation and indeed, self promotion. Even more than Facebook, where the focus is more on community and user interaction. Perhaps this has to do with the ability to make drastic visual changes to one's personal page. My experience with MySpace is that everything tends to be bold, visually and otherwise, and therefore intense impressions are formed.
Do you maintain that the Cues Filtered Out perspective plays into your experience because your overall impression was a negative one? I would argue that your findings very much support the Hyperpersonal Model. Even though the limited cues led you to a negative reaction, it was exaggerated, intense and quite possibly accurate. My understanding is that CFO would not have led you to these strong impressions.
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