Digital communication increasingly shapes how people present themselves, perceive others, and build social connections. Two new chapters by the Media Psychology and Media Design Group at Technische Universität Ilmenau in the Handbook of Online Communication (3rd edition) provide a comprehensive overview of identity processes and interpersonal communication in digital environments.
The chapters highlight how digital contexts offer new opportunities for self-presentation and identity exploration, while also introducing uncertainty in impression formation. Online identities can be authentic, idealized, or strategically constructed, and feedback from others plays a key role in shaping the self. At the same time, a large share of online communication is interpersonal and contributes to the development of relationships, groups, and communities.
Alongside opportunities such as social connectivity and expanded forms of expression, the contributions also address challenges, including deception, misunderstandings, and emerging forms of parasocial interaction with AI-based systems. Together, the chapters provide a theory-driven and empirically grounded perspective on how interpersonal communication is evolving in the digital age.
- Döring, N. (2025). Identität, Selbstdarstellung und Eindrucksbildung in digitalen Kontexten [Identity, Self-Presentation, and Impression Formation in Digital Contexts]. In W. Schweiger, K. Beck & V. Karnowski (Eds.), Handbuch Online-Kommunikation (3. Auflage). Heidelberg: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-18017-1_8-2
- Döring, N. (2025). Interpersonale Kommunikation, Beziehungen, Gruppen und Gemeinschaften in digitalen Kontexten [Interpersonal Communiation, Relationships, Groups, and Communities in Digital Contexts]. In W. Schweiger, K. Beck & V. Karnowski (Eds.), Handbuch Online-Kommunikation (3. Auflage). Heidelberg: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-18017-1_31-1