Impression Management Strategies Employed by Former Muslims on Social Media

Abstract

This article aims to provide insights into the impression management strategies employed by Malaysian former-Muslims in their postings on social media. Data was generated from extended observation of their postings for 10 months from July 2019 to April 2020. A total of 294 relevant postings were gathered and analyzed thematically using impression management strategies by [1] and [2] as an analytic framework. The analysis revealed that supplication emerges as the primary strategy employed by the former Muslims, followed by self-promotion, exemplification, and ingratiation. The study argues that the former Muslims’ social media postings are not a mere expression of interests, experiences, or criticism of the religion; instead, these postings serve as a means of negotiating impression of them; and as a collaborative attempt of building their new self-image.