In Iran, where males and females are kept separated in different spheres, Facebook may be used as an opportunity to bridge this gap between the genders. However, this study showed that Facebook, as a nonymous platform in which people are in contact with their already-made social ties, didn’t seem to be liberating from the existing norms and rules within society. Facebook was a stage that became restricted with the involvement of social ties. The study’s analysis of interviews with six young Iranians showed that social meanings and norms of self-presentation on Facebook are defined to a large degree in terms of gender. The informants used a variety of strategies when presenting themselves on Facebook. They used Facebook simply for gaining personal autonomy. Strategies were adopted especially when one’s personal and community needs were in conflict. Efforts made to apply strategies were gendered and were used mainly by females. Males conformed to and women resisted societal norms and expectations.

Ungdomars beteende styrs av attityder, subjektiva normer och upplevd kontroll och utifrån omgivningen regleras beteendet för att skapa intryck som platsar i olika sociala interaktioner. Ungdomar presenteras sig olika beroende på sammanhang och utför olika strategier för att bli accepterade och känna tillhörighet. I dag är Instagram en gemensam plattform där ungdomar kan interagera med varandra via och eftersom det erbjuds bland annat publicering, delning och arkivering av bilder inleds en process till ett förlängt jag. Studien har syftat till att undersöka vilka strategier som ungdomar i åldrarna 13-16 i dag använder i sin självpresentation på Instagram för att uppnå tillhörighet. För att uppnå syftet med studien skapades en teorisyntes för att kunna kartlägga deras strategiska självpresentationer. Denna utgår från Theory of planned behavior, Erving Goffmans dramaturgiska samhällssyn, Jones och Pittmans självpresentationsstrategier och Russell Belks teori kring det förlängda jaget. I vår fallstudie genomfördes en fokusgrupp och fyra individuella intervjuer samt en bildanalys som alla hade utgångspunkt i teorisyntesen. Undersökningarna genomfördes för att ge svar på hur ungdomars beteende ser ut på Instagram och hur de använder applikationen för att presentera sig själva genom publicering av bilder. Resultatet visade att ungdomar i dag använder flera olika strategier för att presentera sig själva på Instagram. Den mest förekommande strategin är självfrämjan och i vissa fall använder de även insmickran och föregå med gott exempel. De vill lyfta fram egenskaperna av att vara kompetenta, sympatiska och moraliskt värdiga och utifrån detta publicerar de bilder på sig själva, sina kompisar och aktiviteter som föreslår just detta. / The behavior of adolescents is controlled by attitudes, subjective norms and perceived control, and they generate different impressions based on their environment to fit into their different social interactions. Adolescents present themselves different depending on their relations and alternate their strategies to do so in order to fit in and feel accepted. Today Instagram is a common platform for interaction between adolescents and because it offers publication, sharing and storing of images a process of creating an extended self occurs. The purpose of this study is to examine which strategies adolescents between the ages 13-16 use in their presentation of self on Instagram to achieve their sense of belonging. To accomplish this purpose we created a theoretical synthesis in order to map their strategic self-presentation. This synthesis is based on the Theory of planned behavior, Ervin Goffman’s concept of dramaturgy, Jones and Pitman’s self-presentation strategies and Russell Belk’s theory of the extended self. With this as a base in our case study we held a focus group and four individual interviews followed by a picture analysis. These enquiries were carried out with the purpose of answering how adolescents act on Instagram and how they use this application in their self-presentation via images. The result indicates that adolescents, today, use several different strategies in their presentation of self on Instagram. The strategy that is most prone to be used is self-promotion followed by ingratiation and exemplification. They want to highlight their capability to be competent, appealing and morally worthy and they publish pictures of themselves, their friends and their activities based on that.