Psychological studies in social perception (named also person perception, or interpersonal cognition) are reviewed in the paper. Special interest is given to social perception in electronic — computer and Internet mediated- interaction, first of all in social networking. Construction of self-presentations is listed among the main psychological mechanisms of social perception management. It is shown that networkers often develop multiple and alternative self-presentations which include verbal as well as visual and audio materials. Self-presentations form the basis for network identities, or virtual identities; networkers often experiment (play, in their own words) with their identities by changing elements of self-presentations. The paper proceeds to empirical exposure of differences between real-life and electronic identities.

Real-life identities may differ from “virtual” identities presented in social networks. Many social networkers construct diverse (more than one) virtual identities, which differ by numerous parameters. Two or more identities constructed by a social networker we call alternative identities. Empirical study is based on a case developed by the Harvard Good Play Project; semi-structured interviews were held with 42 participants (social networkers) in three age groups (15—17, 18—21, 22—25; equal number of females and males in each group). Computer content analysis, narrative analysis of the interview materials and variance analysis were done. Results refer to reasons for and attitudes towards construction of alternative identities; age and gender differences are analyzed.