Theorising digital personhood: a dramaturgical approach

Figures & data

Table 1. SM studies drawing on Goffman.

Authors	Goffman applied to online spaces
Donath (1998)	Utilises Goffman as an initiating point for signalling theory
Schroeder (2002)	Heavily employs Goffman’s dramaturgy in his analysis of virtual worlds
Schau and Gilly (2003)	Builds on Goffman to examine personal Websites as a noticeable form of multiple, and, in particular, desirable self-presentation
Zhao (2005)	Shows that the online experience of teenagers revealed that telecopresent others in the online world do constitute a distinctive ‘looking glass’ which generates a digital self that is different from the self-constructed offline
Ellison, Heino and Gibbs (2006)	Investigates Goffman’s self-presentation strategies among online dating participants (how participants manage their online presentation of self in accomplishing the goal of finding a romantic partner)
boyd (2007)	Uses Goffman to examine SNS activity as networked identity performance
Robinson (2007)	Argues the effectiveness of Goffman’s approach over postmodern perspectives found in Turkle (1995)
Lewis, Kaufman and Christakis (2008)	Reflects on Goffman’s front stage/back stage distinction to examine the notion of student privacy in SNS and, in particular, the factors that are predictive of a student having a private and a public profile
Tufekci (2008)	Offers research on Facebook self-presentation around Goffman alongside Dunbar’s social brain hypothesis
Zhao et al. (2008)	Expands upon Goffman’s self-presentation theories to investigate identity construction on Facebook
Quan-Haase and Collins (2008)	Uses impression management as per Goffman to discuss the art of creating status messages in order to signal availability
Menchik and Tian (2008)	Utilises Goffman and symbolic interactionism to interpret ‘face-saving’ on e-mail mailing lists
Mendelson and Papacharissi (2010)	Demonstrates that pictures and photos on SNS conform to traditional notions of impression management
Hogan (2010)	Argues that self-presentation in SM environments can be split into performances (i.e. chatting), which take place in synchronous ‘situations’ (as per Goffman), as well as artifacts (i.e. status updates, photos etc.), which take place in asynchronous ‘exhibitions’
Bullingham and Vasconcelos (2013)	Presents an exemplification and discussion of the contemporaneity of Goffman’s work and of its applicability to the analysis of identity and presentation of self in the blogging and Second Life contexts
Marder, Joinson et al. (2016)	Examines theories of self-presentation within the context of audience surveillance in SNS, stimulating a self-comparison process that results in impression management
Marder, Slade, Houghton and Archer-Brown (2016)	Contributes to impression management theory, as per Goffman, within SNS by providing an understanding of the effect of visible affiliation on page ‘liking’ behaviour in the context of political parties

SNS: Social networking sites.

Table 2. Subjects and film-makers (the films can be accessed as Supplemental Material, available with the online version of the article, and all participants have given permission to be named).

Chosen participant and reasoning	Film-maker	Film-making background/style	Film title
Manick (outspoken user who engages in contentious public debates)	Meghan	Documentary	The Public Life of Manick G
Richard (heavy user and recently survived cancer)	Emma	Animation	Everyone is Waiting for Something to Happen
Alice (heavy user who uses Facebook like a diary)	Louise	Drama/Fiction	Alice: A SM Journey
Imogen (singer/songwriter)	Christopher	Documentary	CUMULUS
The Baristacrat (pseudonym for a coffee/café reviewer)	Gus	Drama/Fiction	The Baristacrat
Peter T. (political campaigner)	Peter F.	Documentary	Peter Tatchell

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