2. Identity as Claude Lévi-Strauss’ bricolage (Chandler and Roberts-Young, 1998)

a. Who am I? Key theme

i. Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin and James M. Cook, “Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks,” Annual Review of Sociology 27 (2001): 415-422.

b. Impression or reputation management or personal branding

i. CNET, “A Primer on Online Reputation Management” (2011)

ii. CNN Living, “How to Build Your Personal Brand” (2010)

1. Brand: “a unique promise of value,” according to William Arruda

iii. CBS, “Facebook Can Serve as Personality Test” (2011)

1. Golbeck’s study of FB suggests that one can get within 10% on “openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism”

iv. Michal Matejovic, “Facebook: Instrument to acquire political power for B. Obama in 2008 elections: the social network as a personal branding tool in the 21st century" (Utrecht University, June 2010)

v. Linkedin Blog, “5…Tips on Effective Personal Branding” (2009)

vi. Ownership or availability of website, see http://www.whois.net/

vii. Domain name hosting services, see, for example, http://www.networksolutions.com/

c. Role of writing

i. “Great people talk about ideas. Average people talk about things. Small people talk about other people,” Anonymous folk wisdom.

d. Role of photographs

i. “Image jacking or photo jacking” (2012)

ii. Having fun and are popular without having to boast”?

iii. “Facebook Post Leads to Marion (OH) Man’s Arrest” (2011)

iv. Carnegie Mellon, “Facial Recognition Study—FAQ” (2011)

v. “How to Take a Self-Portrait (with a Digital Camera)”

vi. Possible Reading: Susan Sontag, On Photography (1973)

vii. Other vendors such as iPhoto or Photobucket

e. Role of music

i. “What does your taste in music say about your personality?”

ii. Daniel J. Levitin, This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession (New York: Dutton, 2006).

1. “Listening to music with others causes the release of oxytocin, a chemical associated with feelings of trust and bonding.”

iii. Manos Tsakiris and Ana Tajadura-Jiménez, “I-Space: The Effects of Emotional Valence and Source of Music on Interpersonal Distance,” PLoS One (October 2011) or “MP3 players ‘shrink’ our personal space (when listening with headphones to music evoking positive feelings)

f. Readings

Danet, B., Ruedenberg-Wright, L. & Rosenbaum-Tamari, Y. (1997). “Hmmm…Where’s That Smoke coming from? Writing, Play and Performance on Internet Relay Chat,” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 2 (1997): 41-76.

i. Millie Tran, “Facebook has changed’ friendships haven’t” Daily Bruin, 9 November 2010

g. Questions/Assignments:

i. Is FB who you are? If not, then who are you?

ii. Do you think brand management makes sense?

iii. What role do photos play in your own FB page?

iv. What are some good/poor examples of impression management on FB?

Updated: 29 February 2012; created: 11 May 2009.