Your Online Identity
The development of Internet communication and social media has expanded the traditional notion of identity. Now, people have online identities in addition to real life identities. It can be hard to manage the relationship between online and real life identities because a) materials that are posted online may exist forever; b) they can shape people's interpersonal perception towards you in the real world; and c) employers tend to use online platforms to verify and validate the identity of individuals. Hence, it is important to be aware of effective ways to manage your online identities.
My Internet Identity
Further reading
Online Persona
Managing online identities is important because:
• It provides platforms for people to express their feelings and show different sides of their personalities.
• It helps people to understand you more holistically.
• It helps to shape people’s interpersonal perception.
• People often associate your virtual identities with real life identities.
• Employers will use online platforms to verify and validate the identity of individuals.
• More importantly, the materials posted online may exist forever and may always be searchable.
With the existence of many different kinds of social media outlets, the online identities that you create should:
• be detached, but at the same time reflective of your true identity;
• use different social media platforms to provide emphasis on different aspects of your identity;
• depend on your desired outcome in different circumstances.
For example:
Facebook is for a personal image and it is often shared among friends and families.
LinkedIn is for a professional image and it is used for job-seeking or maintenance of professional relationships.
Twitter can be both personal and professional. It can be an effective tool for you to engage in issues and conversations that you care about.
Instagram is for a personal image and it is often shared among friends and families; Instagram can also be an effective tool for product advertisement.
Why do people manage their online identities?
According to a Pew Research Center 2010 survey,
- Monitoring the digital footprints of others has become more common. 38% of internet users have searched online for information about their friends, up from 26% in 2006.
- People are more likely to be found online. 40% of internet users say they have been contacted by someone from their past who found them online, up from 20% who reported the same in 2006.
- Social networking users are especially attuned to the intricacies of online reputation management. The size of the adult social networking population has more than doubled since 2006, and 65% of these profile owners have changed the privacy settings to restrict what they share with others online.
What methods do people use to manage their online identities?
According to a Pew Research Center 2010 survey, social networking users:
- Limit the amount of personal information available about them online. 44% of young adult internet users say this, compared with 33% of internet users ages 30-49, 25% of those ages 50-64, and 20% of those ages 65 and older.
- Change privacy settings. 71% of social networking users ages 18-29 have changed the privacy settings on their profile to limit what they share with others online. By comparison, just 55% of users ages 50-64 have changed their privacy settings.
- Delete unwanted comments. 47% social networking users ages 18-29 have deleted comments that others have made on their profile, compared with just 29% of those ages 30-49 and 26% of those ages 50-64.
- Remove their names from photos. 41% of social networking users ages 18-29 say they have removed their name from photos that were tagged to identify them, compared with just 24% of users ages 30-49 and only 18% of those ages 50-64.