Editing Generalized other (section)

== Imagined Audiences in Social Media ==
Specifically referencing modern social media sites like [[Facebook]] and [[Twitter]], Eden Litt and [[Eszter Hargittai]] explain that the imagined audience refers to a mental construct people form of their audience without real insight into who is actually consuming their online content.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Litt|first1=Eden|last2=Hargittai|first2=Eszter|date=2016-01-01|title=The Imagined Audience on Social Network Sites|journal=Social Media + Society|volume=2|issue=1|pages=205630511663348|doi=10.1177/2056305116633482|s2cid=147168829|issn=2056-3051|doi-access=free}}</ref>

This disconnect between a user's imagined audience and actual audience is affected by social norms and context, and could play a large role on [[impression management]] — if a user believes their audience is composed of certain people, they may curate their social media feed and image to reflect this belief. Notably, academic scholar Jacqueline Vickery found in a study that her informants attempted to dissociate themselves from peers they considered "[[ghetto]]." Since her informants were aware that Facebook friend connections are visible to everyone, those who were worried about associating with certain people then needed to maintain online distance by declining those friend requests.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Vickery|first=Jacqueline Ryan|date=2014-12-03|title='I don't have anything to hide, but … ': the challenges and negotiations of social and mobile media privacy for non-dominant youth|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2014.989251|journal=Information, Communication & Society|volume=18|issue=3|pages=281–294|doi=10.1080/1369118x.2014.989251|s2cid=143042947|issn=1369-118X|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Scholar [[danah boyd]] argues that the "imagined audience ... resembles the concept of the White audience inherent to [[respectability politics]]; namely, that one must be able to successfully perform a White-defined [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] self to achieve upward mobility."<ref>{{Citation|last1=Pitcan|first1=Mikaela|title=Performing a Vanilla Self: Respectability Politics, Social Class, and the Digital World|date=2018|work=Social Media & the Self: An Open Reader|place=Bethlehem, PA|publisher=mediastudies.press|last2=Marwick|first2=Alice E.|last3=boyd|first3=danah|doi=10.32376/3f8575cb.a06df9b7|isbn=978-1-951399-04-7|doi-access=free}}</ref> The relationship between the dominant, acceptable social norms and intersections of class, gender, racial, or ethnic norms creates tension when managing impressions for both the imagined audience and the invisible audience.

As sharing on [[social media]] continues to become more commonplace, the imagined audience will continue to play a role in how people choose to represent themselves on different platforms. For instance, a study on impression management in [[Online dating service|online dating]] found that participants had to navigate mediating conflict between the pressures of impression management and their desire to present an authentic sense of self.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ellison|first1=Nicole|last2=Heino|first2=Rebecca|last3=Gibbs|first3=Jennifer|date=January 2006|title=Managing Impressions Online: Self-Presentation Processes in the Online Dating Environment|journal=Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication|volume=11|issue=2|pages=415–441|doi=10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00020.x|issn=1083-6101|doi-access=free}}</ref> Other similar studies have also found that there are significant instances of misrepresentation in online dating: 86% of participants in one study felt that other members of their dating sites misrepresented their physical appearance.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Brym, Robert J.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/234084178|title=Love online : a report on digital dating in Canada|date=2001|publisher=[publisher not identified]|oclc=234084178}}</ref> Misrepresentation, particularly on sites where participants are looking for companionship and love, could be explained by the idea of the imagined audience — as participants form the idea of who is actually viewing their profiles, they may cater their own online representation to be more appealing.