Social Media Identity Construction and Audience Engagement
Summary
Social media platforms offer users a dynamic stage for constructing and curating personal identities, blending narrative self-presentation with strategic audience interaction. Through profile design, post selection and network affiliations, individuals symbolically signal values, aspirations and group memberships. Engagement metrics—likes, comments and shares—serve both as feedback loops and social currencies, shaping subsequent self-portrayals. As audiences grow more diverse and fluid, users must navigate competing norms, manage privacy boundaries and reconcile multiple role identities within a single digital environment. The phenomenon of context collapse, whereby disparate social circles converge, necessitates adaptive strategies such as selective disclosure, pseudonymous accounts and tailored messaging. Simultaneously, the ritualised nature of online exchanges generates collective effervescence that can strengthen group solidarity or amplify emotional contagion. These interwoven processes carry global significance, influencing political mobilisation, brand advocacy and community resilience. By illuminating the mechanisms of identity work and audience engagement, researchers can inform platform design, digital literacy initiatives and interventions to promote constructive online interaction.
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Social Media Identity Construction and Audience Engagement publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in social media identity construction and audience engagement across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Identity construction: The process by which users craft and present a coherent digital persona through visual, textual and relational signals.
Impression management: Strategic regulation of self-presentation to influence audience perceptions and social standing online.
Context collapse: The convergence of multiple, distinct social circles into a single digital space, complicating audience expectations.
Interaction ritual: Structured exchanges that generate shared emotional energy and reinforce group solidarity within online or offline settings.
Collective effervescence: A heightened sense of communal energy and unity experienced during coordinated social interactions.
References
- From context adaptation to context restoration: strategies, motivations, and decision rules of managing context collapse on WeChat. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (2023).
- Audience reconstructed: social media interaction by BTS fans during live stream concerts. Frontiers in Psychology (2024).
- Beyond Bodily Co‐Presence: A Micro‐Sociological Study of Online Interaction Rituals. Symbolic Interaction (2024).
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