Literature review revealed that identity is seen as something that is “both under construction and of central importance for matters of privacy” for each person (Hildebrandt, 2006: 8). Respondents learn, define, and remind themselves of who they are by having privacy and by choosing to share particular personal
information with others or concealing it from particular friends, group of friends or everyone. Therefore, immaterial possession, like privacy and personal
information, plays an important role in our postmodern digital life which allows social media consumers to build social self-identity by presenting disclosed self and concealing private self.
Privacy also helps social media consumers to protect their personal self-identity by concealing the information about private self as well as by isolating the self at the needed time in order to release from tensions of social life and restrictions, as well as to experience emotional release and enhance enjoyment of social media consumption. In addition, social media consumers are conscious about other users’ privacy, as the user protects another person’s privacy in return. Being conscious about other users’ privacy actually indirectly helps to support own
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social self-identity, as personal information can cause different outcomes also for one’s identity simply by being known. Therefore, one’s privacy could also be seen as a protection of own social and personal identity.
8.2.1 Maintaining identity
Privacy appears to be a project of the life, which includes both social or disclosed self-identity and personal or private self-identity projects that allow person to experience simultaneously closedness and openness on social media. Altman theorized that privacy is not to avoid information disclosure, but also selectively present the information about the self, especially in the context of social media.
Therefore, respondents not only conceal private information, but they also choose what information about themselves to present on social media and how to present it in order to maintain desired social identity.
This way, by introducing particular information about the self, respondents also present social self-identity to other social media users, they claim their multiple and usually positive, intelligent and active identities. Therefore, respondents seek for intimacy with other social media users by presenting their identity, and simultaneously by presenting their identity they also try to limit accessibility to the personal self-identity and private information. In other words, when
consuming social media respondents seek to protect their personal identity and also maintain their social identity. This represents privacy paradox on social media in a sense that by being private the information is still publicly disclosed in order to create desired social identity, which in turn limits the access to concealed private information.
Therefore, by controlling over own personal information and access to the self, in other words, by presenting disclosed self in desired way, as well as by concealing private self or the information which is not desired to be publicly disclosed, person aims to extend own self-identity (Belk, 1988), like Nea conceals her private self, which includes gamer, gossip girl, shy and unconfident person. Nea also presents desired disclosed self-identity, which includes fun, active and intelligent lady. Indeed, it was found by Baker and Oswald (2010) that person high in shyness is more likely to use Facebook and create stronger relationships through it by providing comfortable environment in which shy people can interact with others. Therefore, Facebook facilitates intimacy with Nea’s friends by allowing Nea to feel more comfortable through this medium.
This way, respondents present the self that makes sense to multiple audiences without compromising their truly private sense of the self. Indeed, privacy and possession of personal information contribute to the sense of self, and could be
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seen as a part of identity and extended self presented by Belk (1988). Therefore, the possession of the information is an instrument to extend the self to the
environment, to protect private self-identity and to reinforce social disclosed self- identity.
8.2.2 Developing self-ego by isolating the self
Respondents also seek for distance or isolation of the self at the needed time in order to emotionally and physically release from tensions of social life and restrictions, as well as to enhance enjoyment of social media consumption. From one’s identity perspective, isolation from others creates time for self-evaluation through which person extracts meanings from personal experience, and plans and assesses the future actions by integrating the plan with own social and personal features of identity needed to be disclosed or concealed.
A good example here is life story presented by Maria. For her, privacy represents isolating from others, including her Facebook friends because of previously negative experience. Thus, if social media does not create positive emotions and does not provide experiential value as was presented by Firat and Dholakia (2006), as well as desired level of privacy for consumer, its consumption will be diminished till the time when person gains trust in it. Maria’s life story
emphasizes the importance of isolation in future public representation of identity on social media, as well as changes in internal states and their influence on self- ego and understanding of own identity.
8.2.3 Protecting own identity by appreciating others’ privacy
As it was identified from the life stories, social media consumers are conscious about other users’ privacy by not publicly sharing too personal information, or the information that might be perceived private. The main goal of being conscious about others’ privacy in addition to caring, is avoiding awkward situations, by which both parties’ disclosed social identity as well as private personal identities could be affected. In other words, by protecting someone else’s privacy social media consumers expect others to protect their privacy in return.
Thus, behind the actual idea of being conscious about others’ privacy is usually an individual objective of indirect protection of own privacy on social media, and in turn, own social and personal identities. In case if one’s personal information is disclosed it affects one’s social identity and, as a result it also shapes one’s personal identity. Therefore, being conscious what information respondents share
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with each other, in a way is a strategic tool to indirectly maintain own privacy, to support social identity and to protect personal identity as well.
All in all, privacy as a social identity project allows person to present the self in a desired way, by selectively providing own information, by allowing access to the self to the some extend, as well as by being conscious about others privacy.
Privacy as a personal identity project allows people to conceal their most personal information, it allows isolating the self and having time for self-assessment and planning of the future actions. Through both interrelated social and personal identities, respondents construct and achieve desired level of privacy.
Thus, privacy represents consumers’ core social and personal values and physical and psychological features, which are transferred into their behavior during consumption of social media, including representation of disclosed social identity, concealing personal identity, isolating the self and being conscious about others privacy. Moreover, two presented life stories emphasize the fact that person’s actualized privacy meanings of social media consumption is a function of the consumer’s salient life-projects as conjoined by life-themes. Therefore, consumers of social media through their identity actively construct own meanings of privacy as they seek to create coherence in their lives (Mick and Buhl, 1992). The
meaning of privacy might be changed during life time of one person, as unpredictable circumstances arise, such as significant life situations and
experiences or nuclear episodes (McAdams, 1996), which influence the person’s coherence of the self (Belk, 1988; Arnould and Thompson, 2005; John et al., 2011).