My social networking profile: copy, resemblance, or simulacrum? A poststructuralist interpretation of social information systems

Kreps, DGP

Abstract

This paper offers an introduction to poststructuralist interpretivist research in information systems, through a poststructuralist theoretical reading of the phenomenon and experience of social networking websites, such as Facebook. This is undertaken through an exploration of how loyally a social networking profile can represent the essence of an individual, and whether Platonic notions of essence, and loyalty of copy, are disturbed by the nature of a social networking profile, in ways described by poststructuralist thinker Deleuze’s notions of the reversal of Platonism. In bringing a poststructuralist critique to such hugely successful and popular social information systems, the paper attempts to further open up the black box of the computer ‘user’, extend interpretive approaches to information systems research to embrace poststructuralism, and explore how notions of the Self might be reflected through engagement with information system (IS), and how an IS appreciation of the phenomenon of global social networking may benefit from embracing such a poststructuralist approach.

Citation

Kreps, D. (2010). My social networking profile: copy, resemblance, or simulacrum? A poststructuralist interpretation of social information systems. European Journal of Information Systems, 19(1), 104-115. https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2009.46

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Nov 17, 2009
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2010
• Deposit Date: Oct 24, 2011
• Journal: European Journal of Information Systems
• Print ISSN: 0960-085X
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 104-115
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2009.46
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2009.46
• Related Public URLs: https://link.springer.com/journal/41303