Online Identity Construction and Expectation of Future Interaction

While the growing popularity of social network sites (SNSs) reflects a desire for individuals to move their offline networks to an online space, there are a number of organizational and social settings in which online interactions precede offline meetings. When this happens, interactants may only have limited information about their partners on which to make judgments. Avatars can provide important cues to a person´s identity, such as likes, appearance, or personality. The present study tests whether the type of anticipated future interaction (i.e., online or face-to-face) moderates the avatar creation process. Findings from an experiment indicate that any expectation of future interaction impacts attractiveness and similarity ratings of an avatar in comparison to the self, while text- based avatar descriptions vary according to the modality of expected future interaction. Results are discussed as they apply to hyperpersonal model of computer-mediated communication [3].