While I have focused on twitter alone a major theory within digital anthropology is that of polymedia (Miller et al. 2016), the idea that social networks cannot be understood in isolation and that people use different sites to communicate in a variety of ways.
Research looking at social media from different geographical locations have found that some of the uses of social media reflect the preexisting cultural ideas of the local context. Miller describes Facebook as appealing to the British desire to be close but not to close to others (Miller, 2016)
Personally the use I make of different social media sites is influenced mostly by who is able to view and connect them to me. It is also a factor that has changed through time.
High school = friends used twitter and Whatsapp
still how I interact with friends from then
Youth group = Facebook and messenger
College = Facebook and messenger
Instagram used to share images of parties
now to see clips of lives around the world
Don’t use Snapchat as my friends don’t
How I present myself on these sites is affected by who I am sharing myself with. I present my truest self on Twitter and Tumblr where hardly anyone I know follows me. On Facebook I am constrained by the eyes of family, old friends and school acquaintances. I only post temporary stories on Instagram as they are less stressful than a permanent image that I would want to make perfect.