Identity construction of celebrities on facebook a study of selected Ghanaian artistes.

Abstract

The advent of internet and the Social Networking Sites (SNSs) is another significant phenomenon that is shaping social interaction. SNSs have opened the doors of communication, allowing people from around the world to engage in identity creation and relationship development. Several studies have sought to explain how identities are constructed online especially on the SNSs. Through qualitative textual analysis, interview and cyber ethnography viewed through the lens of symbolic interactionism and the identity theory, this study probes into how celebrities (musicians, actresses and actors) in Ghana construct their identities and further investigates into the kind of identities celebrities construct for themselves on Facebook. The study concludes that in order to meet the positive expectations of their followers, celebrities devise several schemes to construct favourable identities of themselves on Facebook.