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Psychologist Dr Paul Marsden at Syzygy Group explains the notion of the ‘extended self’ and says brands that help consumers manage their identities online will thrive in the new reality
Digital
ho’s more real? The version of yourself lolling in front of the TV in your dressing gown with a tablet balanced on a pizza box? Or version 2.0, striding heroically through
the virtual realm posting impeccably cool content and filtered Instagram pics? Without getting existential about it,
while one version is packaged for public consumption, the other probably isn’t. There’s nothing new in the observation that our public and private selves aren’t always equivalent, but according to psychologist Dr Paul Marsden at Syzygy Group, it’s our online activity that’s beginning to define us as we curate – or simply create – our digital personas. Welcome to the age of the extended self. The concept is derived from Richard
Dawkins’ 1982 book The Extended Phenotype. “The idea is that you can’t understand a bird until you understand its nest,” says Marsden. “You need to look at what the bird creates.” By analogy, if brands are to understand what motivates consumers, they must recognise that what we create online - our Likes, Pins, Tweets and comments - don’t just express who we are. They also express how we want to appear. “As our lives become more digitised,
how we are in real life becomes less important,” says Marsden. “With the idea of the always-on user, so much is based on how we present ourselves digitally. There’s a fluidity to how we see and define ourselves.”
Gets
HELP YOURSELF TO SELL Since the arrival of mass-media advertising, brands have sought to present themselves as helping consumers. That involves shaping public perception of a brand and enabling consumers to communicate something about themselves through their buying decisions. “Digital has introduced a huge new
aspect to our ‘selves’ that brands have to manage,” says Marsden. “That involves what I call ‘impression management’. The extended self is becoming more
46 issue 24 may 2015 Real
important because brands have the opportunity to help users mould an impression of themselves.” For Marsden and the team at Syzygy this is part of a broader shift in perception and, they suggest, the internet is fast becoming the arbiter of reality. With #NoMakeUpSelfie, #RightToBeForgotten and #TheFappening, 2014 wasn’t just the year intimacy went public. It was also the year our extended selves started reaching back into the material world to shape the media agenda and our personal lives. If it didn’t happen online, it wasn’t (or may as well not have been) for real.
FEATURE JON FORTGANG
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