Modeling cultural acquisition in online social networks

Abstract

This research proposes to study the relationship between audience, context and disclosure in online social network sites. Studying a population of college students, the researchers will use a survey to explore how social maturity, perceived friend network size, and long-term goals affect the identity presented in online social networks. This goal of this analysis is to document a process of identity formation in online social networks. In the model, individuals choose strategies of identity presentation based on notions of in-group awareness, future-selves and social context. This model will be tested with survey methods.