Skip to main content
Log in

My social networking profile: copy, resemblance, or simulacrum? A poststructuralist interpretation of social information systems

  • Original Article
  • Published:
European Journal of Information Systems

Abstract

This paper offers an introduction to poststructuralist interpretivist research in information systems, through a poststructuralist theoretical reading of the phenomenon and experience of social networking websites, such as Facebook. This is undertaken through an exploration of how loyally a social networking profile can represent the essence of an individual, and whether Platonic notions of essence, and loyalty of copy, are disturbed by the nature of a social networking profile, in ways described by poststructuralist thinker Deleuze's notions of the reversal of Platonism. In bringing a poststructuralist critique to such hugely successful and popular social information systems, the paper attempts to further open up the black box of the computer ‘user’, extend interpretive approaches to information systems research to embrace poststructuralism, and explore how notions of the Self might be reflected through engagement with information system (IS), and how an IS appreciation of the phenomenon of global social networking may benefit from embracing such a poststructuralist approach.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anon (2007) Facebook scares me The Independent on Sunday. Independent News and Media 26 August.

  • Anderson K (2007) The absent identity: community isolation in an age of information overload. In Proceedings of the Third International Summer School organized by IFIP WG 9.2, 9.6/11.7, 11.6 The Future of Identity in the Information Society (FISCHER-HUBNER S, DUQUENOY P, ZUCCATO A and MARTUCCI L, Eds), Springer, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger P and Luckman T (1967) The Social Construction of Reality. Penguin, Harmondsworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bijker W and Law J (1992) Shaping Technology, Building Society. MIT Press, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • boyd d (2006) Identity production in a networked culture: why youth heart my space. In MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Learning – Youth, Identity, and Digital Media Volume (BUCKINGHAM D, Ed), pp 119–142, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • boyd d and Ellison N (2007) Social network sites: definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 13 (1), 210–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • boyd d and Heer J (2006) Profiles as conversation: networked identity performance on Friendster. In Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences pp 59c, 3, IEEE Computer Society.

  • Brook A and Raymont P (2006) The unity of consciousness. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consciousness-unity/ (accessed 20 May 2009).

  • Buci-Glucksman C (1994) Baroque Reason. Sage, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler J (1990) Gender Trouble. London, Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calvino I (1981) If on a Winter's Night a Traveller. Harcourt Brace, Florida, US.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deleuze G (1983) Plato and the Simulacrum. (Translated by KRAUSS R), In October 27, pp 45–56.

  • Deleuze G (1990) Logic of Sense (Translated by LESTER M and STIVALE C) Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deleuze G (1995) Difference and Repetition (Translated by PATTON P) University of Columbia Press, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derrida J (1974) On Grammatology (Translated by SPIVAK GC) John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dimicco J and Millen D (2007) Identity management: multiple presentations of self in Facebook. In Proceedings of International ACM Siggroup Conference on Supporting Group Work pp 383–386, ACM, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dimicco J, Millen D, Geyer W, Dugan C, Brownholtz B and Muller M (2008) Motivations for social networking at work. In Proceedings of CSCW: 2008 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work pp 711–720, ACM, New York.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Donath J and boyd d (2004) Public displays of connection. BT Technology Journal 22 (4), 71–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fiske S and Taylor S (1991) Social Cognition. McGraw-Hill Inc., New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault M (1995) The Order of Things. Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson W (1993) Neuromancer. Harper Collins, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens A (1984) The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. University of California Press, US.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman E (1990) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Penguin, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halperin R (2006) Identity as an emerging field of study. FIDIS Datenschutz und Datensicherheit 30 (9), 533–537.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayles N (1999) How We Became Postmodern. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Joinson A (2008) Looking at’, ‘looking up’ or ‘keeping up with’ people? Motives and uses of Facebook. In Proceedings of the 26th Annual SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems pp 1027–1036, ACM, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joinson A and Paine C (2007) Self-disclosure, privacy and the internet. In Oxford Handbook of Internet Psychology (JOINSON A, MCKENNA K, POSTMES T and REIPS U-D, Eds), pp 237–252, Oxford University Press, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jourard S and Lasakow P (1958) Some factors in self-disclosure. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 56 (1), 91–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein H and Myers M (1999) A set of principles for conducting and evaluating interpretive field studies in information systems. MIS Quarterly 23 (1), 67–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kreps D (2007) Cyborgs: Cyborgism, performance and society. [WWW document] http://www.Lulu.com.

  • Kreps D (2008) Virtuality: time, space, consciousness and a second life. In Exploring Virtuality: Social, Global and Local Dimensions (PANTELI N and CHIASSON M, Eds), pp 254–268, Palgrave, London, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kreps D (2009) Performing the discourse of sexuality online: Foucault, butler, and video-sharing on sexual social networking sites. In Proceedings of the Fifteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems San Francisco, California August 6th–9th 2009 pp 1–8, AMCIS, San Francisco, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kreps D and Pearson E (2009) Community as commodity: social networking and transnational capitalism. In Virtual Social Networks: Mediated, Massive and Multiplayer Sites (PANTELI N, Ed), pp 155–174, Palgrave, London, UK.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kreps D and Richardson H (2007) IS success and failure: the problem of scale. Political Quarterly 78 (3), 439–446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn TS (1970) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamb R and Kling R (2003) Reconceptualizing users as social actors. MIS Quarterly 27 (2), 197–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour B (1988) Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour B (1993) We Have Never Been Modern. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Law J (1992) Notes on the theory of the actor-network: ordering, strategy and heterogeneity. Systems Practice 5, 379–393.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu H, Maes P and Davenport G (2006) Unraveling the taste fabric of social networks. International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems 2 (1), 42–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Livingstone S and Helsper E (2007) Taking risks when communicating on the Internet: the role of offline social-psychological factors in young people’s vulnerability to online risks. Information, Communication & Society 10 (5), 619–644.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyortard F (1997) The Postmodern Condition. Manchester University Press, Manchester, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mesch G and Talmud I (2007) Editorial comment: e-relationships – the blurring and reconfiguration of offline and online social boundaries. Information, Communication & Society 10 (5), 585–589.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murray J (1999) Hamlet on the Holodeck – The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace. MIT Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura L (2002) Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nietzsche F (2008) Twilight of the Idols. Oxford Paperbacks, Oxford, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plato (1892a) Phaedrus. In The Dialogues of Plato (Translated by JOWETT B) Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

  • Plato (1892b) Republic. In The Dialogues of Plato (Translated by JOWETT B) Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

  • Plato (1892c) Sophist. In The Dialogues of Plato (translated by JOWETT B) Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

  • Plato (1892d) Statesman. In The Dialogues of Plato (Translated by JOWETT B) Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

  • Russell B (1959) Wisdom of the West. Rathbone Books, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith D (2006) The concept of the simulacrum: Deleuze and the overturning of Platonism. Continental Philosophy Review 3, 89–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer L and Pahl R (2006) Rethinking Friendship: Hidden Solidarities Today. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Szomszor M, Cantador I and Alani H (2008) Correlating user profiles from multiple folksonomies. In Proceedings of the Nineteenth ACM Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia pp 33–42, ACM, New York.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Turkle S (1995) Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. Simon & Schuster, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsham G (1993) Interpreting Information Systems in Organisations. John Wiley, Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsham G (1995) The emergence of interpretivism in IS research. Information Systems Research 6 (4), 376–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White D (2008) ITV to relaunch Friends Reunited. Telegraph Newspaper 23 March.

  • Wiener P (Ed), (1974) The Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiener N (1946) Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. John Wiley & Sons, London, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiener N (1950) The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society. Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiszniewski D and Coyne R (2002) Mask and identity: the hermeneutics of self construction in the information age. In Building Virtual Communities: Learning and Change in Cyberspace (RENNINGER A and SHUMAR W, Eds), pp 191–214, Cambridge. Cambridge University Press, UK.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Kreps.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kreps, D. My social networking profile: copy, resemblance, or simulacrum? A poststructuralist interpretation of social information systems. Eur J Inf Syst 19, 104–115 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2009.46

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2009.46

Keywords

Navigation