This paper was included within the program of the program of the Audience Section as an Online Conference Paper at the annual conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research, IAMCR, 2023. Here is the extended abstract.
Despite the expanding audience size, ACG (Anime-Comics-Games) culture is still considered a subculture in China, whose fans are stereotyped as having “social withdrawal” and addicted to the online world. Social media is an important platform for ACG fans to communicate with their peers and self-present themselves. Investigating self-presentation on social media is crucial since it is a powerful predictor of social media attachment and addiction, which is the stereotype of the ACG fan community (Chen, 2019). As enthusiasts of virtual worlds, ACG fans are active on multiple social media platforms. How do ACG fans present their identities when using different social media? What are the factors that influence their self-presentation on social media?
This study conducted in-depth interviews with 10 participants to investigate their self-presentation strategies on different social media platforms and influencing factors. All interviewees regarded themselves as enthusiastic ACG fans. Their average time immersed in the ACG culture was more than ten years. Each interviewee used at least five social media simultaneously.
The paper first found that ACG fans adopt different self-presentation strategies on different social media to make their fan identities appear “floating”. ACG fans selectively use social media for different needs. They use diverse social media when socializing with peers, expressing their emotions, obtaining ACG-related information, and watching ACG-related videos. They adopt different strategies in presenting profile photos, user names, memes, etc. They present themselves as ACG fans on some social media platforms and do not present themselves as such on others.
The paper then found that the contribution of the identity of the ACG fan community to the positive aspects of the users’ social identity, the motivation for using certain social media, and individual personality characteristics are the factors that affect the differential strategies of cross-social media self-presentation. Most interviewees don’t present much of their ACG fan identities on the acquaintance platform like WeChat. The self-presentation of ACG fan identities is still largely within the ACG fan community and on social media platforms filled with strangers. Due to personality characteristics, ACG fans sometimes present “anti-social” states on social media.
The paper also explored the divergences within the ACG fan community and their influence on members’ identities. The diverse strategies of self-presentation, which vary according to the target audience, are partly a result of the stigmatization of ACG culture and the divergences within the ACG fan community. From the perspective of the three aspects of identity, ACG fans mainly identify themselves as fans on the emotional aspect, rather than necessarily identify themselves in the cognitive aspect of belonging to the ACG fan community and the behavioral aspect of self-presentation on social media (Sun, 2018).
Studying the self-presentation of the ACG fan community on different social media is helpful for us to understand the relationship between identity and the self-presentation of specific groups.
KEYWORDS: Self-presentation, social media, ACG culture, fan community, social identity
References：
Chen, A. (2019). From attachment to addiction: The mediating role of need satisfaction on social networking sites. Computers in Human Behavior, 98, 80-92.
Sun, P. (2018). Hu lian wang huan jing xia yu zhai zu de shen fen jian gou yu kua wen hua ren tong [Identity construction and transcultural identification of otaku under the Internet environment] (in Chinese). Journalism Evolution, (01), 90-95.