TVET College students' participation on Facebook and their identity construction

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Technology is a very important part of our daily lives. We cannot leave the house with somesort of smart device including a cell phone, tablet or laptop. Young people that are in the agecohort of 18-35 years have grown up within this technological movement and socialnetworking sites make up a huge part of their daily interactions. One such popular socialnetworking site, Facebook, allows these young people a platform for online engagement andlimits face-to-face interaction. The TVET College is an ideal place for understanding theparticular age group within an educational sector. These first year students seem to constructtheir identity in such an online social platform. Knowledge on this type of experiences as wellas the added value of online engagement can provide some interesting information in a newage of development of these young people and their construction of their identities. Thisresearch can shed light on the particular developmental level of these students as well as theirsense of identity engaging online.The aim of the study was to investigate the experiences of TVET College first year students,specifically exploring their participation on Facebook and how it contributes to their identityconstruction. This was a qualitative study based on the social representations theory. This refersto the association of an individual's characteristics and that which other people ascribe to theindividual. The particular sample was purposively selected and they participated voluntarily inone-on-one interviews and consented to the researcher observing their FB profile pages.The research findings highlighted the important role of Facebook in the lives of TVET Collegefirst year students and how they gain a sense of belonging as a mechanism for coping in today'slife. Four main themes were identified, namely a real world identity, an on-line identity, theon-line self in relation to other people and the practical implications of being active on-line.These students viewed the virtual world as a world where they were accepted, whereas this didnot happen in the real world, where they reported often feeling isolated. Their onlineinteractions incorporated their understandings of who they are and was thus closely connectedwith how they represented themselves on-line. Therefore, the research concluded that theyseem to construct their identities in an online manner.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University