SavedAdd your journal

Journals / Akdeniz Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Dergisi / 2026 / Issue: 49

Identity Performances on Digital Platforms: Performative Self, Society of Spectacle and Dramaturgical Approach

Dijital Platformlarda Kimlik Performansları: Performatif Benlik, Gösteri Toplumu ve Dramaturjik Yaklaşım

Kübra Erden(ORTA DOĞU TEKNİK ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0003-2799-2428
Pages
196–218
Publication Date
2025-08-31
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

Findings reveal that Instagram fosters aesthetic and status-oriented identities; TikTok supports performative and entertainment-driven identities; X provides a platform for idea-driven discussions and activist identities; LinkedIn prioritizes professional and corporate identity construction; and Facebook facilitates the development of social and community-based identities, highlighting the contextual nature of identity performances within the digital media ecosystem and offering significant contributions to a deeper understanding of the impact of social media platforms on individuals.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:In the contemporary digital era, individuals not only shape their daily lives but also craft their self-perceptions through online platforms, with this study examining the processes of identity construction and presentation on social media platforms through the lenses of performative self and digital spectacle, drawing on Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical approach and Guy Debord’s concept of the society of the spectacle.
📊
Key Findings & Data:This research explores the interplay between identity performances, identity construction, and performative self-presentation on social media, investigating the dynamics through which these processes transform into a digital spectacle.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:Findings reveal that Instagram fosters aesthetic and status-oriented identities; TikTok supports performative and entertainment-driven identities; X provides a platform for idea-driven discussions and activist identities; LinkedIn prioritizes professional and corporate identity construction; and Facebook facilitates the development of social and community-based identities, highlighting the contextual nature of identity performances within the digital media ecosystem and offering significant contributions to a deeper understanding of the impact of social media platforms on individuals.
🔬Design:Araştırma Makalesi
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Sosyal Medya · Kimlik İnşası · Performatif Benlik

Abstract

In the contemporary digital era, individuals not only shape their daily lives but also craft their self-perceptions through online platforms, with this study examining the processes of identity construction and presentation on social media platforms through the lenses of performative self and digital spectacle, drawing on Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical approach and Guy Debord’s concept of the society of the spectacle. This research explores the interplay between identity performances, identity construction, and performative self-presentation on social media, investigating the dynamics through which these processes transform into a digital spectacle. By analyzing the social media practices of eighteen active participants, the study investigates identity creation dynamics across Instagram, TikTok, X, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Data were collected through observation and content analysis of participants’ social media practices. Findings reveal that Instagram fosters aesthetic and status-oriented identities; TikTok supports performative and entertainment-driven identities; X provides a platform for idea-driven discussions and activist identities; LinkedIn prioritizes professional and corporate identity construction; and Facebook facilitates the development of social and community-based identities, highlighting the contextual nature of identity performances within the digital media ecosystem and offering significant contributions to a deeper understanding of the impact of social media platforms on individuals.

Özet

Bu çalışma, kullanıcıların sosyal medya platformlarında kimlik inşası ve sunumu sürecini, performatif benlik ve dijital gösteri kavramları çerçevesinde ele almaktadır. Goffman'ın dramaturjik yaklaşımı ve Debord'un gösteri toplumu kavramından yola çıkarak, sosyal medya kullanıcılarının dijital platformlarda nasıl bir benlik inşa ettikleri ve bunu nasıl sergiledikleri analiz edilmektedir. Günümüz dijital çağında bireyler, yalnızca günlük yaşamlarını değil, aynı zamanda benlik algılarını da çevrimiçi platformlarda şekillendirerek sergilemektedir. Bu çalışma kapsamında, bireylerin sosyal medyadaki kimlik performansları ve kimlik inşa süreçleri ile performatif benlik sunumları arasındaki ilişki ele alınarak, bu sürecin dijital ortamda bir gösteriye dönüşme dinamikleri incelenmiştir. Araştırma içerisinde, 18 aktif katılımcının sosyal medya pratikleri incelenerek, sosyal medya platformlarının bireysel ve toplumsal kimlik inşasında nasıl işlev gördüğü çeşitli teorik perspektiflerle analiz edilmektedir. Bu analiz, platform bazlı kimlik inşası sürecinde toplumsal yapıların, kültürel kodların ve bireysel tercihlerinin nasıl şekillendiğine dair bir bakış açısı sunmaktadır. Sosyal medya platformlarındaki kimlik performanslarını anlamak amacıyla Instagram, TikTok, X, LinkedIn ve Facebook’ta kullanıcıların kimlik oluşturma dinamikleri incelenmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular neticesinde, Instagram, estetik odaklı ve statü bazlı kimliklerin oluşumuna zemin hazırlamakta; TikTok, performatif ve eğlence temelli kimliklerin desteklenmesini sağlamakta; X, fikir bazlı tartışma alanları ve aktivist kimliklerin ortaya çıkması için bir platform sunmakta; LinkedIn, profesyonel ve kurumsal kimlik inşasının ön planda olduğu bir alan sağlamakta; Facebook ise sosyal ve toplumsal bağları güçlendiren kimliklerin gelişimini desteklemektedir. Platform bazlı kimlik inşalarının analizinde, dijital medya ekosistemindeki kimlik sunumlarının bağlamsallığı üzerine yapılan bu çalışma, sosyal medya platformlarının bireyler üzerindeki etkilerini daha derinlemesine anlamak için önemli bir katkı sağlamaktadır.

🔖

Cite This Article

Erden, K. (2025). Identity Performances on Digital Platforms: Performative Self, Society of Spectacle and Dramaturgical Approach. Akdeniz Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Dergisi, Issue: 49, 196–218. https://doi.org/10.31123/akil.1629829

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (20)

  1. Abidin, C. (2016). Visibility labour: Engaging with Influencers’ fashion brands and #OOTD advertorial campaigns on Instagram. Media International Australia, 161(1), 86-100. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X16665177
  2. Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. İçinde J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (ss. 241-258). Greenwood Press.
  3. Boyd, D. (2020). It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. Yale University Press. https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300166439
  4. Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge.
  5. Castells, M. (2013). Communication Power (Second Edition). Oxford University Press.
  6. Clarke, V. & Braun., V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology. 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
  7. Debord, G. (1967). The society of the spectacle. Zone Books.
  8. Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Anchor Books.
  9. Habermas, J. (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society (T. Burger & F. Lawrence, Çev.). MIT Press.
  10. Hogan, B. (2010). The Presentation of Self in the Age of Social Media: Distinguishing Performances and Exhibitions Online. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 30(6), 377-386. https://doi.org/10.1177/0270467610385893
  11. Jackson, S. J., Bailey, M., & Foucault Welles, B. (2020). #HashtagActivism: Networks of Race and Gender Justice. The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/10858.001.0001
  12. Kozinets, R. V. (2010). Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online. Sage Publications.
  13. Marwick, A. E. (2015). Instafame: Luxury Selfies in the Attention Economy. Public Culture, 27(1), 137-160. https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-2798379
  14. Noelle-Neumann, E. (1974). The Spiral of Silence a Theory of Public Opinion. Journal of Communication, 24(2), 43-51. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1974.tb00367.x
  15. Özüdoğru, Ş. (2014). Nitel Araştırmanın İletişim Araştırmalarında Rol Ve Önemi Üzerine Bir Deneme. Global Media Journal: TR Edition, 4(8), 260-275.
  16. Papacharissi, Z. (2014). Affective Publics: Sentiment, Technology, and Politics. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199999736.001.0001
  17. Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community (s. 541). Touchstone Books/Simon & Schuster. https://doi.org/10.1145/358916.361990
  18. Tufekci, Z. (2017). Twitter and Tear Gas. The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest. Yale University Press. https://doi.org/10.25969/MEDIAREP/14848
  19. Van Dijck, J. (2013). ‘You have one identity’: Performing the self on Facebook and LinkedIn. Media, Culture & Society, 35(2), 199-215. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443712468605
  20. Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206-222. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000047