2024 Volume 8 Issue 1 Pages 1_51-1_60
The advent of Internet 2.0 has increased the diversity and complexity of the online social scene. On social platforms, people play multiple roles and use certain means to maintain their virtual images. This paper introduces Goffman's dramaturgical theory regarding the transition of users' behavior from reality to the Internet as a “performance process from backstage to foreground” from the self-presentation perspective, and compares real social interactions with online social interactions. The user's identity in different social environments is considered a “performance role.” Three types of online roles, namely performer, interactor and observer, and four types of online behaviors, shaping behavior, co-acting behavior, seeking behavior and isolated behavior, are further classified and redefined here. The online social process of the three online role types and the behavior preferences of different role types are clarified. Furthermore, a case description is provided by considering the Sina Weibo as an example. Finally, suggestions for functional preferences for different roles and construction of the network platform are shared.
