ABSTRACT
This chapter traces some developments in applied linguistics research and what they tell about self-presentation online. Applied linguistics research has played an important role in shedding light on how identities are negotiated and managed in contexts of digital communication. Firstly, analysis of people's language use has revealed the importance of traditional social roles online, in the sense that gender and other differences are reproduced through language in digital contexts, challenging earlier assumptions that social distinctions would lose their significance online. Online users must portray themselves through largely text-based visual resources, including written language, typography, orthography and the creative combining of different scripts, as well as photos, other images, videos and the embedding and sharing of hyperlinks to other sites. Applied linguistics research shows how social identity is actively negotiated by online participants in ongoing talk and how ostensibly offline identities can be ascribed, authenticated, negotiated and contested in online situations.
