Department of Media and Communication, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany.
Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2012 Feb;15(2):91-8. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2011.0151. Epub 2011 Dec 1.
Psychological research on gender differences in self-presentation has already revealed that women place higher priority on creating a positive self-presentation, while men are less concerned about the image they present in face-to-face (ftf) communication. Nowadays, with the extensive use of new media, self-presentation is no longer so closely tied to ftf situations, but can also take place in the online world. Specifically, social networking sites (SNS), such as Facebook or MySpace, offer various features such as profile pictures, groups, and virtual bulletin boards with which users can create elaborated online representations of themselves. What remains open is whether this virtual self-presentation on SNS is subject to gender differences. Based on studies emphasizing gender-related differences in Internet communication and behavior in general, it can be assumed that men and women have different motives regarding their SNS usage as well. A multimethodological study, combining results of an online survey and a content analysis of 106 user profiles, assessed users' diverse motives for participating in SNS in general, and their use of specific profile elements or self-presentation in particular. In this sample of StudiVZ users, women tend to be more likely to use SNS for comparing themselves with others and for searching for information. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to look at other people's profiles to find friends. Moreover, women tend to use group names for their self-presentation and prefer adding portrait photos to their profiles, while men choose full-body shots.
心理学对自我呈现中的性别差异的研究已经表明，女性更注重创造积极的自我呈现，而男性则不太关注面对面交流（ftf）中呈现的形象。如今，随着新媒体的广泛使用，自我呈现不再与 ftf 情况紧密相关，也可以在网络世界中进行。具体来说，社交网站（SNS），如 Facebook 或 MySpace，提供了各种功能，如个人资料图片、群组和虚拟公告板，用户可以使用这些功能精心制作自己的在线形象。目前尚不清楚 SNS 上的这种虚拟自我呈现是否存在性别差异。基于强调互联网通信和一般行为中性别差异的研究，可以假设男性和女性在 SNS 使用方面也有不同的动机。一项采用多种方法的研究，结合在线调查的结果和对 106 个用户个人资料的内容分析，评估了用户参与 SNS 的多种动机，以及他们对特定个人资料元素或自我呈现的使用情况。在 StudiVZ 用户样本中，女性更倾向于使用 SNS 进行自我比较和寻找信息。另一方面，男性更倾向于查看其他人的个人资料以寻找朋友。此外，女性倾向于使用群组名称进行自我呈现，并喜欢在个人资料中添加人像照片，而男性则选择全身照片。
