Online identity: constructing interpersonal trust and openness through participating in hospitality social networks

• Authors: Alexander Ronzhyn
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The present article describes the results of research on online identity construction during the participation in the hospitality social networks. Specifi cally the user references are analy-sed to understand patterns that form the image of a member. CouchSurfi ng service (couch-surfi ng.org) allows users to leave short texts where the experience of hosting/being hosted by a CS member is described, is an evaluation of the CS members of each other’s personal traits, skills and common experience. Therefore references can become a good instrument for portraying a CouchSurfi ng member and understanding his or her particular traits. Refe-rences form an important part of a user’s virtual identity in the network. Using a sample of references of Spanish CouchSurfi ng users, the research established main characteristics of the references, which are the openness, readiness to share ideas and experiences and trustworthi-ness. These concepts illustrate the typical traits associated with a user of the network and also shed light on the activities common during offl ine CS meetings

Keywords

EN

identity construction, online identity hospitality social networks, CouchSurfi ng

• Publisher: Fundacja Pro Scientia Publica
• Journal: Journal of Education Culture and Society
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 47-56

Dates

published

2020-01-11

Contributors

author

Alexander Ronzhyn

• University of Deusto (Bilbao, Spain)

Identifiers

DOI

10.15503/jecs20131.47.56