Construction of online identity from the facebook users perspective

Abstract

Each individual has his or her own offline or online identity. A unique and different constructed self-identity allows an individual to be recognized by others. Even though, previous studies have been done on the construction of self-identity, especially in the field of intercultural communication but the factors involved in constructing of online identity has not been investigated thoroughly. This study investigates how owners of Facebook accounts use media literacy in the construction of online identities. The objective of this study is to analyze how knowledge, emotions and skills are used by an individual to construct his or her online identity. The research was conducted by using mixed method approach to examine how media literacy is used to construct real, ideal or fake online identities. A total of 400 students who are pursuing communications programs at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Putra Malaysia and Universiti Sains Malaysia were chosen as respondents in a survey. They are given a set of questionnaire that was developed to measure the relationship between the independent and dependent variables in the study. The results showed that media literacy is used by an individual to construct his or her online identity. The findings indicated that media literacy was used in the online identity construction by an individual. However, there are other factors that also affect the online identity construction that is not explored in this study. Thus, future studies should look at the acceptance of the constructed online identity by other people.