Online Inspiration And Exploration For Identity Reinvention

Self-representation online can be difficult for those who are in life transitions that involve exploring new identity facets and changes in personal style. Many desire to tailor their online representations for different audiences. Social media site profiles and sharing settings offer varying levels of anonymity, privacy, and thus safety, but these settings are often opaque and poorly understood. To understand the complex relationship between identity, personal style and online self-representation, we examine how people explore and experiment with new styles in public and in private online settings during gender transition. We present the results of interviews with transgender people who have recently reinvented their personal style, or are planning to do so in the near future. We find that people explore new styles in online settings to craft possible or ideal future selves. When involving others, people engage intimate and unknown others, but often avoid weak ties. Our results indicate that to account for changing identities, social media sites must be designed to support finding inspiration and advice from strangers and style experimentation with close friends.