Question

Social media and other online settings have changed the processes of impression management. Discuss.

Answer 1

Impression formation is a very important area of social psychology and it deals with the concepts of how we perceive others. It takes into account various factors which influences our perception of another person and what impressions are formed. Factors like saliance, job roles, body language snd apperance were thought be factors which a person should be cautious and concerned about in order to manage his or her impression in front of society or an important authority.

In the era of rising dominance of social media, it has been found that the ways of impression management has changed and the online settings have made it easier for people to manipulate others in forming some impressions which may be based on some false factors. Some studies done by Zide (2014), shows that the new process of impression management in social medias are to have the best pictures of the person along with only those information which will be overtly attractive. The pictures may be edited in subtle ways and they may depict a personality which is different from the actual person. Thus, through pictures one tries to portray oneself in an attractive light. The qualifications and skills are provided in such a way that they attract attention and some individuals uses certain quotes which they have no knowledge of but which are known to attract others and may lead to a fine impression formation about the person. Thus, in this era of social media, impression management can be done through various manipulative processes through the help of the various online settings. Through certain online settings one can also decide which information will be shown to others and which information will not be made public. This feature also helps the person in disclosing as much information as he wants to and thus, he can be in control of the impression other's are forming about him.