{"id":107,"date":"2014-02-17T22:20:05","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T22:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/mediastudies101\/?post_type=chapter&p=107"},"modified":"2014-02-28T00:02:19","modified_gmt":"2014-02-28T00:02:19","slug":"impressions-management","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/mediastudies101\/chapter\/impressions-management\/","title":{"raw":"Impressions Management","rendered":"Impressions Management"},"content":{"raw":"

One theoretical tool that is frequently used to explore questions of new media and communication in particular is impressions management<\/em>. \u00a0Impressions management is a term used in fields such as communications, sociology, and in public relations theory, and it is used in roughly the same way, just in slightly different contexts.<\/p>\r\nImpressions management refers to the overt and the unconscious strategies we, as social individuals, deploy to try and influence how others perceive us. \u00a0Impressions management can explain our clothes, our gestures, the ways we speak, the twitter username we choose, or the Facebook picture we pick for our profile. \u00a0In deciding on which outwards signs<\/a> to convey, we try to imagine how others would decode<\/a> and relate to those signs, and thus choose signs (whether it be hairstyle or a 'selfie' on Facebook) which would generate the positive or desired decoding. \u00a0By successfully managing impressions, an individual not only receives positive reaction from their peers or social group, and thus peer esteem, but it also allows for a consistent presentation of self \u2013 that is, an individual creates and maintains a consistent story of who \u201cthey\u201d are \u2013 the story of \u201cKate the friend\u201d or \u201cTama the student\u201d.\r\n\r\nWhen we deploy impression management strategies in our face-to-face social networks, we often do so unconsciously. \u00a0Your first thought when encountering idea of impressions management might have been \u2018that\u2019s very calculated\u2019 or \u2018I don\u2019t do that,\u2019 and it was only on second reflection that you realized that you do choose your clothes or make other decisions about yourself based on how others might see you. \u00a0We are so enculturated to manage our impressions that we stop realizing that we\u2019re even doing it. \u00a0How many times did you hear when you were younger \u2018stand up straight\u2019 or \u2018look nice\u2019 or \u2018behave, and make a good impression\u2019? \u00a0We do it automatically as part of the rituals and processes <\/a>of everyday life within our society.\r\n\r\nOne of the best places to tease out these processes of encoding impressions management strategies is to look at how you manage your online persona in places such as Facebook. \u00a0Online, where every communicative act is deliberate and the communication is stripped of non-verbal cues (and quite a few other cues besides), impressions management behaviours become foregrounded. \u00a0We are quite deliberate and calculating (even if we\u2019re not explicit even to ourselves as to why we are deliberate and calculating) in selecting the impressions we put online. \u00a0A great example of this is your Facebook photo albums \u2013 reflect on when and why you might delete or 'untag' photos of yourself that you think don\u2019t make you look \u201cgood\u201d? \u00a0That is impressions management in action.\r\n\r\nThis idea of understanding identity through trying to imagine how others see \u2018you\u2019 is a common one across the symbolic interactionist school of thought. \u00a0Impressions management is closely linked with another concept known as the looking-glass self<\/a>.\r\n

Discussion<\/h2>\r\n
    \r\n\t
  1. We can begin by investigating how we, as individuals, employ impressions management to present ourselves to the world. However, is this equally as applicable in understanding corporate, retail and other institutional presence in all forms of media?<\/li>\r\n\t
  2. More specifically, do such bodies employ similar strategies to individuals in their use of Facebook as an advertising\/information tool? If not, identify the techniques they do employ.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","rendered":"

    One theoretical tool that is frequently used to explore questions of new media and communication in particular is impressions management<\/em>. \u00a0Impressions management is a term used in fields such as communications, sociology, and in public relations theory, and it is used in roughly the same way, just in slightly different contexts.<\/p>\n

    Impressions management refers to the overt and the unconscious strategies we, as social individuals, deploy to try and influence how others perceive us. \u00a0Impressions management can explain our clothes, our gestures, the ways we speak, the twitter username we choose, or the Facebook picture we pick for our profile. \u00a0In deciding on which outwards signs<\/a> to convey, we try to imagine how others would decode<\/a> and relate to those signs, and thus choose signs (whether it be hairstyle or a ‘selfie’ on Facebook) which would generate the positive or desired decoding. \u00a0By successfully managing impressions, an individual not only receives positive reaction from their peers or social group, and thus peer esteem, but it also allows for a consistent presentation of self \u2013 that is, an individual creates and maintains a consistent story of who \u201cthey\u201d are \u2013 the story of \u201cKate the friend\u201d or \u201cTama the student\u201d.<\/p>\n

    When we deploy impression management strategies in our face-to-face social networks, we often do so unconsciously. \u00a0Your first thought when encountering idea of impressions management might have been \u2018that\u2019s very calculated\u2019 or \u2018I don\u2019t do that,\u2019 and it was only on second reflection that you realized that you do choose your clothes or make other decisions about yourself based on how others might see you. \u00a0We are so enculturated to manage our impressions that we stop realizing that we\u2019re even doing it. \u00a0How many times did you hear when you were younger \u2018stand up straight\u2019 or \u2018look nice\u2019 or \u2018behave, and make a good impression\u2019? \u00a0We do it automatically as part of the rituals and processes <\/a>of everyday life within our society.<\/p>\n

    One of the best places to tease out these processes of encoding impressions management strategies is to look at how you manage your online persona in places such as Facebook. \u00a0Online, where every communicative act is deliberate and the communication is stripped of non-verbal cues (and quite a few other cues besides), impressions management behaviours become foregrounded. \u00a0We are quite deliberate and calculating (even if we\u2019re not explicit even to ourselves as to why we are deliberate and calculating) in selecting the impressions we put online. \u00a0A great example of this is your Facebook photo albums \u2013 reflect on when and why you might delete or ‘untag’ photos of yourself that you think don\u2019t make you look \u201cgood\u201d? \u00a0That is impressions management in action.<\/p>\n

    This idea of understanding identity through trying to imagine how others see \u2018you\u2019 is a common one across the symbolic interactionist school of thought. \u00a0Impressions management is closely linked with another concept known as the looking-glass self<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Discussion<\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. We can begin by investigating how we, as individuals, employ impressions management to present ourselves to the world. However, is this equally as applicable in understanding corporate, retail and other institutional presence in all forms of media?<\/li>\n
    2. More specifically, do such bodies employ similar strategies to individuals in their use of Facebook as an advertising\/information tool? If not, identify the techniques they do employ.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":6,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":["mediatexthack"],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[53],"license":[],"class_list":["post-107","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","contributor-mediatexthack"],"part":23,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/mediastudies101\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/mediastudies101\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/mediastudies101\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/mediastudies101\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/mediastudies101\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/mediastudies101\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/107\/revisions\/270"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/mediastudies101\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/23"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/mediastudies101\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/107\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/mediastudies101\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/mediastudies101\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/mediastudies101\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/mediastudies101\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}