Intercultural communication, faith and impression management: former Muslims’ engagement with social media

This study adopts a virtual ethnographic approach to delve into the intercultural communication of eight purposively selected Malaysian former Muslims through social media. It focuses on postings that contest Islamic beliefs while excluding general criticisms of Islam. Data generated, through an extended observation of participants' Facebook and Twitter accounts, were analysed using discourse analysis, focusing on impression management strategies. The findings unveiled the former Muslims' recurrent engagement in and interplay of self-promotion, ingratiation, supplication, and exemplification which elucidated their adept utilisation of IM strategies, particularly humanisation and rationalisation, in shaping their image as advocates of humanity and rational thinking.