Representing the political self : the fronts we display and the dissonance we create

This research studies the motivations that compel the employment of or resistance to politically oriented information in the construction of an individual's Facebook profile, their site of impression management as it occurs through online materials. Through an inductive interpretation of interviews conducted with current Whitman College students, I find that people use impression management (Goffman 1957) as a tool to craft a specific image through the use of political information and texts to develop a front that reflects them in, what they consider, a favorable light.