Constructed Virtual Identity of Muslim Women in Social Media

Abstract

The phenomenon and the development of new media introduce a new communication’s form of social media that requires an individual to have a virtual identity. This identity is an outstanding image of self-presentation that is built up deliberately by an individual in cyberspace. Through social networks, e.g., Facebook, a person acts as producer and simultaneously as gatekeeper of a message who can express a thought without any restrain. Basically, this study aimed to investigate how Muslim women created and constructed their virtual identity in a profile of Facebook. Furthermore, this study keened to determine the factors that affected the virtual identity of Muslim women on Facebook. The methodology was descriptive qualitative with discourse analysis approach. Data collection was carried out by examining documents obtained from the subjects’ profiles in Facebook and interviews. Purposive sampling was conducted to select the subjects based on the research topics, which were the subjects actively used Facebook, understood the issues, and were trustworthy. Data analysis technique used in his study was discourse analysis approach as developed by Teun A. Van Dijk. It was employed to examine the textual, image, in this case Facebook’s profile of Muslim women. The conclusions in this study are there is a propensity of the masquerade of virtual identity including user’s name, profile picture, and statuses carried out by Muslim women in Facebook. Subsequently, the factors of age, role, and their devotion on Islamic teachings also affected Muslim women in making up their virtual identity.

Keywords: Cyber identity, Muslm women; Social Media; Virtual identity