To what extent does social media give us a sense of collective Identity

In modern society the youth use social media as a part of and as a means of constructing their identity's. They use social networks as a means of developing or 'updating' their own identity, the theory on social media by Henry Jenkins states that "teens are constantly updating and customising their online profiles by adding songs, pictures and by posting on each others walls". By interacting in this way they are able to build up a shared social identity on Facebook each user creates their own personal page which displays interests, favourite music or film, relationship status and the area in which you live etc. not only do users define themselves by creating such profiles but young people by commenting on or seeking out people who have similar interests or live in the same area as you they are using that social network to gain a sense of collective identity. This idea is what is meant by Merleau Ponty's theory that 'we have an embodied experience with anything in which we use or bodies to create developing new ideas for our identity's' which is what users do every time they engage with others using social media whihc suggests that websites like facebook are key in devlopment of collective identity in the youth generation. 


Youth and popular culture are indefinitely interlinked and popular culture is a huge part of social media, websites such as twitter and tumblr which are frequented constantly by young people are centres of pop culture on these social networks young people comment, reblog or retweet on anything from popular music, fashion or celebrities and post and reblog pictures and images that they share a common interest in and it is in this behaviour that online communities that are allowing the youth to connect with others far quicker and easier then before and by creating these virtual communities that young people have grown up with and instinctively use a new collective identity is formed.


This relatively new idea of social networks and youth using the social media as a means of creating a social identity is interesting because it subverts the Marxist theory that takes the concept of collective identity to its extreme and for many socio-economic reasons argues that there should be only one world view. Using these social mediums as propaganda instilling ideals and forcing a collective identity instead of allowing us to create and develop our own identities, this shows that the extent of the affect of social media on identity is large and can also be used negatively. 


To relate this to a recent case study during the London riots there was heavy new coverage and the main focus of may of the reports were the violence, misconduct and criminality of youths during the incidents. In all mediums the press reported young people in a negative light making use and playing on the fears of other social groups by using racial and social profiling they created a sense of hysteria and forced a negative collective identity for young people this discrimination forced them to become the 'out-group'. 


Social media is a strong power and is able to strongly influence our idenities with social networking sites it has become easir to interact with people of similar nature and form groups and then a collective identity, although it can slo be used to force a suggested collective identity onto a group because in present society we are always exposed to messages from the media. in conclusion the extent of the impacts of social media on collective identity is huge.