The Presentation of Self in the Age of Social Media: Distinguishing Performances and Exhibitions Online
DOIThis paper reconceptualizes Goffman’s dramaturgical framework for the social media age, introducing the crucial distinction between synchronous “performances” and asynchronous “exhibitions” curated by platform algorithms.
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Extends Goffman's dramaturgical framework to identify a new form of power in social media: the platform as curator. Unlike synchronous performances before co-present audiences, social media creates asynchronous "exhibitions" where algorithms decide what surfaces, when, and to whom.
Introduces the performance/exhibition distinction that reframes how we understand mediated self-presentation. The shift from real-time interaction to curated display fundamentally changes what can be known about social actors and how that knowledge is produced.