Online Impression Formation

I am a regular Facebook and AIM user, so I decided for this assignment I would attempt to branch out. Since I have never really used chat rooms, I decided to see what the dynamic would be like in Yahoo's public chat rooms. I joined a chat room called “College Sports” since I was hoping to have a good understanding about whatever was being discussed. I noticed that multiple conversations were occurring simultaneously, but I chose to interact with Nittany Nation.

As soon as I joined the room I discovered that the main conversation centered around the ongoing FSU vs. Clemson college football game. From their user name, I assumed that Nittany Nation was a Penn State fan, and I discovered from the conversation that he was male. I was eventually able to confirm that he lived very close to Penn State's main campus.

It may have been the setting of the room, but my impression of most of the users was that of an overly masculine sports fan. Nittany Nation often joined in the sexist jokes towards the two female users, as well as criticizing both Clemson and FSU. I was not able to make any determination as to neuroticism, but he seemed to be quite extroverted as he often led the group's discussion. As with most users in the room, Nittany Nation seemed more interested in expressing his views than remaining open to other's opinions on the game. In this way the room resembled more of a pulpit for dedicated sports fans to talk about their favorite team than a true discussion of the game in progress. He did however seem fairly agreeable with the other users in the room, possibly because his views were not challenged. Conscientiousness was difficult to gage in CMC conversation, as I learned very little about Nittany Nation himself.

My experience with Nittany Nation contained aspects addressed in multiple theories discussed in class. My lack of knowledge regarding neuroticism and conscientiousness suggests a cues filtered out (CFO) element involved. If I had been able to judge the person's voice, tone, and body language I feel I would have a more complete picture of the person I was observing. Based on the impression I was able to make, I feel the most accurate theory for my experience is the Hyperpersonal Model. Since the room was named “College Sports” and most of the other users were highly opinionated males, mostly of college age, I assumed that these traits applied to Nittany Nation as well. This over-attribution is similar to the SIDE theory. There was also a large element of selective self-presentation, as none of the users in the room wanted to appear weak, and likely adapted their comments to a perceived alpha-male ideal. As the model predicts, my impression was tilted towards that of an extreme sports fanatic, not a casual sports fan.