Is Your Facebook Identity in Line with Beloved Betty, Anxious Ann or Critical Catharina? - A study of consumers’ creation of a Facebook identity through Facebook usage and its implication for social media marketing

Abstract

Firstly, this study aims to understand and analyze patterns in the 25-30 years old female consumers’ creation of a Facebook identity. Secondly, this study aims to present implications concerning social media marketing with the help of the results related to the first aim. In order to get a collective understanding of the consumers’ behavior on Facebook, the usage of the platform was discussed in three focus groups. By applying theories of McCracken (1986) and Giddens (1991) from the CCT perspective in combination with theories of Shibutani (1955), Berger (1963) and Goffman (1959) from the Symbolic Interactionism perspective, the consumer usage of Facebook that creates a Facebook identity can be categorized into three ideal types, named after their overall approach towards Facebook usage; Beloved Betty, Anxious Ann and Critical Catharina. The ideal types were defined by the differences in consumer usage related to four found themes; Post, Activity, Friends and Visibility.