Showing Off

Description
This pattern occurs when a user share something that will make him or her look better. It only applies to positive things, not negative.

Examples
Posting "I just got my Driving Licence!" on Facebook, twitter or Google+ is an example of Showing Off. The user's intention is to get attention to his acheivement, or even to make others envy him or her. An example of the latter would be the post "Drinking champange on a boat outside St Tropez".

The pattern does also appear in other forms, for example uploaded photos. Sharing a picture of the user together with a celebrity is one form of Showing Off.

Sharing locations (known as checking in) could also be an example of Showing Off, for instance when being on vacation in a sunny paradise or spending the weekend at a spa resort.

Pros and Cons
If the user who shares the Showing Off content get some positive feedback, he or she will feel good about himself or herself. It has a positive effect on his or her self-esteem. On the other hand, if he or she does not get any feedback at all, there is a risk of an opposite effect.

The users that are shared this content can either be happy for the person, or feel that he or she is bragging.

The application apprieciates the behavior as long as it generates more interaction between the users. If the Showing Off becomes to much bragging, it might have a negative effect on the interaction were the worst case would be that the user's contacts unfollows him or her, or unfriends him or her.

Relations
This is a pattern that also shows in real life. People want to be apprieciated for what they do, are or have. One difference is that in real life you might wait until someone notice the new gadget or asks about the weekend's activities. Online, the user might have to take the initiative to share the content, since waiting for someone to ask can be pointless. The pattern might also be an effect of people being able to leave Comments (Crumlish & Malone) and Thumb up (Crumlish & Malone) shared content.

With some Self Censoring Showing Off will not as likely be regarded as bragging. Attention Seeking is somewhat similar to Showing Off.

The pattern is also related to Maintaining A Facade, with the difference being that Maintaining A Facade is in the long term, a systematic use of Showing Off.

An example of Showing Off is Reward Hunting.

Contributors
Created by Malin Mattsson. Revised by Andreas Bjerkeholt.