Introduction
The ability to identify one’s strengths and weaknesses is central to the further personal and professional development. For this reason, self-profiling as the skill of determining one’s core competencies and skills, as well as recognize one’s limitations, needs to be encouraged actively. However, in the digital context, where most of the academic and business-related processes take place, self-profiling occurs in a slightly different manner than it does in the offline context. By studying the nuances of self-profiling in digital media, one will be able to chart an effective strategy for personal and professional development, as well as building a robust competitive advantage.
Self-Profiling: Key Insights
Specifically, the further examination of the offline and online presence of the users of Facebook as one of the largest global social networks indicates that there are notable differences in how people build their persona and represent themselves in the two settings. Namely, a detailed scrutiny of the Facebook setting indicates that its users tend to portray themselves in a rather accurate manner when using social media (Uddin, 2022). Particularly, a recent study confirms, Facebook users make evident attempts at connecting their online and offline personae in order to create a positive image of themselves, therefore, transferring their core characteristics into their online profiles (Hilte et al., 2019). The described trend indicates that self-profiling in social media occurs in a rather straightforward fashion.
One might assume that the environment of the digital media as the context seemingly detached from reality is conducive to building an entirely unrealistic and idealized self-profile. Indeed, in the digital environment, where communication does not involve an immediate visual contact and the identification of the core characteristics of the dialogue participant, constructing a false identity might appear to be simple. However, the further analysis of the target setting proves that the specified approach to self-profiling in the digital context will only entail adverse outcomes in the long term. Specifically, due to the presence of strong connectivity within the social media community, as well as the opportunity to collect and process data almost immediately, disproving a falsely constructed identity has become an incredibly simple task (Arfini et al., 2020). Therefore, self-profiling on social media tends to reflect the truth to the greatest extent possible.
In addition, the current trend in self-profiling on digital media reflects the changes in the target setting and the increasing roe of digital media in the areas of learning and employment. Namely, with the increasing focus on the significance of social media in the management of communication in the academic and workplace environments, creating personal profiles that represent people accurately has gained additional importance. (Brems et al., 2017). Furthermore, the current political situation involving radical polarization of opinions dictates that people should address their political affiliations (Arfini et al., 2020). Therefore, the emphasis on political beliefs is placed much more heavily in the digital self-profiling process. Similarly, cultural and social aspects of one’s personality are outlined much more distinctively in social media, partially due to the necessity to build an immediately relatable and easily perceivable identity (Arfini et al., 2020). Therefore, there is an evident correlation between the current approach to self-profiling as a direct result of the changes to the understanding of one’s personal identity and the changing role of social media in employment and the academic life.
Conclusion
Examining the unique characteristics of self-profiling in digital media will allow one to identify the strategies that will help determine one’s strengths and weaknesses effectively, as well as utilize the obtained knowledge to create a strong competitive advantage. Thus, self-profiling in the digital context represents a broad area of research with an exceptionally high potential for critical discoveries and insights.
References
Arfini, S., Parandera, L. B., Gazzaniga, C., Maggioni, N., & Tacchino, A. (2020). Personal identity and online communities.CogSci.
Brems, C., Temmerman, M., Graham, T., & Broersma, M. (2017). Personal branding on Twitter: How employed and freelance journalists stage themselves on social media. Digital journalism, 5(4), 443-459.
Hilte, L., Vandekerckhove, R., & Daelemans, W. (2019). Adolescents’ perceptions of social media writing: Has non-standard become the new standard?. European Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7(2), 189-224.
Uddin, M. S. (2022). Construction of Socio-situational Identity in Social Media Platforms: A Critical Appraisal of the Use of Digital Write-ups and Photographs.Sch J Arts Humanit Soc Sci, 10(5), 224-232.