Identify Yourself

Online identity or in other words identity persona is the established identity of an internet user in online communities. This presentation of oneself is actively constructed. There are many different ways internet users choose to go about establishing an online identity. An individual can use their real identity, make up an identity, be anonymous or steal someone else's identity.

An individual may use their real identity for interactions with family and friends. Also, these individuals may choose to build their personal character or network on these sites. Those who make up an identity often do this to hide from others or create a new identity to be known by. I can relate to this, on the social network I use, that it is easy to find an individual, like facebook I do not use my real name. I had this profile to present my personal life and to communicate with family and friends, but I went to a junior high school where the principal actually looked for us. My peers were very involved on this social media and often got into trouble at school for what they did on the site, so I ended up using a nickname and false last name. Another reason, being I wanted my profile to be undiscoverable to employers, which I was constantly warned about when I was younger and creating these profiles. Anonymous users usually go this route to reveal confidential information that they'll be penalized for if their identity was known. An anonymous user is usually that user that reveals information on companies like Apple or information about a celebrity. Lastly, internet users steal identities from other internet users, these victims vary from average people to famous individuals. It is natural for social network users to enhance their identity but it may come as low as that. Many people do this in efforts to hide the real them and become more appealing to others. This is beneficial when trying to establish relationships, promotions and other reasons. In this video you can see why posing as someone who aren't isn't okay.

Then we have cases where users create multiple profiles but does it mean they have different identities. Often these users use different user names to engage with different users, like employers or friends. These profiles can be on the same social media website or across the social network. Internet users often pick and choose want to post within their profiles.

One may have many reasons to include all of their personal information and many factors where they may not. The internet shows us everyday that it must be used with caution and that is sometimes the factor behind users' decisions on what they share on their online profile.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/apr/19/online-identity-authenticity-anonymity