Abstract:

The paper discusses performed appearance and negotiated norms of appropriate behavior on the social network site Facebook. Whereas former studies tended to highlight how communicating on Facebook adapts to neoliberal discourses on networking as means of self-promotion and intensified connectivity, we are going to argue that Facebook is rather about an ambiguous performativity of everyday life by which politicized discourses are filtered through social interaction and personal embodiment. Accordingly, we are going to demonstrate, how legitimate discourse on Facebook takes the form of “publicized modes” of appearance and an ongoing negotiation of “(in)appropriate” behavior, shared content and other forms of contribution.

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