Introduction
This week’s topic made me realise how and why we maintain the identities we have. My creativity skills are improving, as illustrated with the juggling analogy in my post. Infographics created are more clear and concise.
Evaluation
My comment on Natalie’s post explored the ways that we can privatise our identities, to prevent any malicious activity. Her reply made me realise that it is impossible to make our online identities completely private. However, precautions can be taken to minimise identity theft, such as adding only people you know.
Surprisingly, the average number of Facebook friends a user has is 338 (Smith, 2014). This already shouts concern- do we need to connect with all of them, especially if we only talk to a handful? I am guilty of this, having 828 friends but probably only talking to a handful. To protect my identity, I know I need to remove irrelevant users.
Furthermore, Shreya’s post made me question the integrity of our identities- can we truly maintain separate, non-overlapping identities? This is where anonymous identities are useful, providing us a way to ‘hide’ our profile on the web (Clear, 2014).
Moreover, online networks may be untrustworthy, with ‘screenshots’ becoming progressively common (Hodkinson, 2016). Conversations can be shown to users, damaging one’s reputation and identity.
As a result, I edited my self-test completed at the start of the module. I feel that I do not maintain my online identity securely, nor do I manage my profiles effectively.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I believe that multiple online identities provides us flexibility with our profiles. We can choose to integrate profiles, or keep them independent. Maintaining multiple profiles has been effective for me, and I intend to keep my identities separate. However, the security of our identities is at risk, and it always will be.
Word Count: 303
Comments
Comment on Shreya’s Post (still under moderation)
References
Hodkinson, P. (2016). Bedrooms and beyond: Youth, identity and privacy on social network sites. New Media & Society, [online] 19(2), pp.272-288. Available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1461444815605454 [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].
Martin, C. (2014). Why should I reveal my ‘real identity’ online? Anonymity isn’t so terrible. The Guardian. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/15/reveal-real-identity-online-anonymity [Accessed 26 Apr. 2018].
Smith, A. (2014). What people like and dislike about Facebook. [online] Pew Research Center. Available at: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/03/what-people-like-dislike-about-facebook/ [Accessed 26 Apr. 2018].
YouTube. (2017). Best Ways To Protect Yourself Online. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KazBJas29FM [Accessed 26 Apr. 2018].
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