ABSTRACT
Redes sociais e mundos virtuais popularizaram-se como formas de interação em quase todo o mundo a partir do início do século XXI. A despeito da ausência do corpo físico e do conjunto de expressões faciais nas interações virtuais, resta a face - no sentido atribuído por Erving Goffman - a ser preservada e o mecanismo de renovação de desejos tão inerente à lógica da sociedade de consumo quanto necessária para sua reprodução.
Something that is unequivocally remarkable at the 21st century is the popularization of the social networks and virtual worlds as new modes of social interaction. Despite the lack of the physical body and the whole of facial expressions in the virtual interactions, there is still the face, in Goffman's sense, to be preserved and manipulated. To be well-regarded and expand the number of friends or "followers", the individual must exhibit the "right" symbols. As he finds a demand of always being in track with a changing social imaginary which informs the symbols for new presentations of the self, we are able to recognize the same mechanism of renewing desires inherent to the consumption logic and necessary to its reproduction.