1. Context collapse on social networking sites: Investigating LGBTQ identity disclosure on FacebookPresentation to FEM2103 A, uOttawa November 27, 2013 Stefanie Duguay, MSc. Oxford Internet Institute (Alum)

2. Impression managementImage courtesy of Wikipedia 3. Context CollapseImage courtesy of neilalderney123 4. How does context collapse tie into identity presentation? Image courtesy of Eric Constantineau 5. Stigmatized identities Passing vs. disclosingImage courtesy of The Guardian 6. Research questions: How do LGBTQ young people experience context collapse on Facebook in terms of: Their impression management decisions? Their reactions to context collapse? Their strategies for dealing with it? Its effect on their future identity expression? Identity expression Prevention Measures ReactionsContext collapse 7. Methods - Choices WHY? Facebook Early adults Post-secondary studentsRecruitment LGBTQ societies Sought diversity Snowball sampled when necessary 8. Methods Data Collection & Analysis Interviews - Biographical methods - Questions about everyday use - Video-recorded Facebook walkthroughsAnalysisWhen you were coming out to people, did you put anything on your Facebook?- F4 for transcription - Dedoose for coding - Cross analysis of video and interview data 9. Participants 27 interviewees; Ages 18-25; Post-secondary students from different UK universities; Gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, queer, and asexual; Out on Facebook to varying degrees. 10. Definition of the situation & RedefinitionI don't want to run the risk of having a confrontation in real life so if I have it on Facebook they can take it in, deal with it themselves, and then it's over and done with and I never had to say anything. Robert* *Names have been changed to protect participants confidentiality 11. Context Collapse [Having] waved the big lesbian flag, I was really embarrassed when I started to slip up and accidentally have one night stands with men and I definitely remember editing what was visible on my profile page. - Elizabeth 12. Context collapse = increased awareness Resulting in two strategies for preventing context collapse: 1. Passing as someone without a stigmatized identity; 2. Separating audiences.Image courtesy of i_yudai 13. PassingIt doesnt say like, I am gay. It says, I support gay rights. - Anah Image courtesy of Artistic Activism 14. Social Steganography It would never enter their heads that this equals homosexuality because as far as they can see it's like saying, Oh, well I'm in a picture of me riding a unicorn so unicorns exist. It's like no, they wouldn't - they'd assume that it was photoshopped. You know, it just wouldn't enter their heads that this was actually saying I was gay... - William 15. Audience Separation Facebook privacy settings, selective friending, and weeding friends out provide some weak barriers. Use of other public platforms changes the meaning of messages and targets desired audiences. Anonymous spaces and pseudonyms allow individuals to construct thick barriers between audiences. Images courtesy of Minecraft Wiki 16. Sexual Identity and Impression Management on Facebook 17. Outcomes of Identity Disclosure 18. Prevention Strategies 19. A more general model of impression management for environments with reduced contexts? 20. stefanieduguay.com @DugStef