Online communication: platforms, benefits, and challenges

Preferences of 'Online Personalities' among Males and Females in Online Communication

Item 14 of the survey questionnaire is a follow-up question to item 13, where respondents are asked to state their preferred 'online personalities' in the hypothetical personas of Jim and Frank. For items 13 and 14, the researchers attempt to identify how perceived notions of an individual are affected by online communication. This means that different standards and qualifications of the 'desired partner' are constructed when respondents are utilizing online communication. In effect, 'online personalities' are constructed and developed by the respondents in interacting via online communication. Male and female respondents' preferences of these online personalities also vary, and the table and chart below illustrates these differences.

Table 1. Preferences of 'Online Personalities' among Male and Female Respondents

Gender

Preference

Jim

Frank

Male

Female n=

Data generated from the survey illustrated that among males and females, Jim's personality emerges as the most desirable, while Frank's weak personality 'appealed' only to a total of 17 respondents. Data presented here are based on frequencies of the respondents' preferences, since the sample (n=80) is not big enough to make generalizations that would be converted to percentages to provide a more general overview of the data distribution.

Jim's 'online personality' is more desirable than Frank because the latter's online personality as presented in his e-mail to Jenny is perceived as weaker than Jim's. Going back to the hypothetical personalities of the two men in item 13, Jim is illustrated as a manager of a shoe store and finds traveling exciting, and Frank shares the same kind of enthusiasm in that Jim has in working, traveling, and socializing with friends. However, since Jim's letter to Jenny has a more "positive outlook and is more energetic" than Franks, as Female respondent 30 commented, he becomes "more of a potential date" (F, respondent 1) than Frank, making him more appealing to both men (who wants to have Jim's outgoing disposition) and women (who wants to be with an exciting person like Jim). The receptivity of female respondents' to Frank's personality is mainly due to their perception that Frank's persona is "more honest" and real than Jim, and this doubt over Jim's personality reflects the tendency of online communicators to project images of themselves that make them more desirable by others when communicating online. In sum, analysis and interpretation of item 14 in the survey.illustrates how receptivity among online communicators is gauged, where reliance on self-descriptions (descriptors) of an exciting and healthy social life (among males and females) and financial stability (among males) is prevalent among the respondents.