Digital identities: Presentation of self through social media

Digital identity presentation via social network sites illustrate the extent individuals reveal or conceal aspects of their identities because of their socio-cultural context. This qualitative case study examined the Facebook presence of ten adult Iranian Facebook users living both inside and outside Iran. Findings revealed social and cultural constraints, conservatism and external and self-imposed boundaries enacted by participants via their Facebook avatars and manipulated online images. Participants used Persian, English and Arabic languages to represent different elements of their identities based on their socio-cultural opportunities, their needs for self-preservation and their maintenance of image and face.