Who am I Online?

‘Disembodiment’, it is the very thing I hope never to see in myself, creating a new identity for the online community separate from the identity I hold in the real world (Slater 2002, p.536). That is the aspect that I am most proud about in my online identity, I’ve always been who I truly am and never once tried to be anything different. It is when I do try to be someone different that I know I’ve lost myself.

Forming online relationships has always been simple to me, if I don’t know you personally or through others, then it is hard for me to want to try and get to know you online. You hear far too many instances these days about the treats of online bullying, hacking, catfishing, etc that trusting who you don’t know, is just dangerous (Guest Author 2013). That is one aspect that I believe I do quite well about forming relationships online and therefore helps minimise the threats associated with that. I do have to admit, that this mind-set has also limited my ability to reach a wider audience, especially in my twitter account, and know that changes have to be made there in order to achieve a larger following.

The maintenance of relationships is one part that I find extremely easy, as through the use of Facebook and Snapchat, communication between those that I am very close to is so easy. I can be part of group chats and private massages to spark conversation about anything, anytime and anywhere. The limitations in my lack of branching out does mean that I do lose connections quite easy, as my online identity seems to disappear at times. That currently is on the mend with myself becoming slightly more active on social media and putting myself out there a little more. This was evident through my first tweet and my most recent, in the first I had no followers, and no tags, and my message went nowhere, in my most recent post I used the hashtag #ALM101, and I actually reached someone, it may have only been one or two but it was motivating to know that my message was heard.

Another aspect of my online identity is through the use of online gaming. The online community within gaming is a completely different platform to message based social media, and allows those that share a common love of games to come together and play against on another online. The community within this may never actually talk to one another which is a strange thing to think, but the basics of it allows me to create my online identity, to which other players can view. I do keep my standards the same in which I don’t add people unless I know them and therefore the main group that I share this connection with is my close friends again.

My online gaming skills are defiantly far from good, but being able to have fun online against others really heightens the enjoyment of the interactions that can be experienced.

The last part that I will be touching on within this blog is about what people see of me from my accounts profile pictures. The main online identity that I allow my image to be seen on is Facebook. I have had a small number of profile pictures on the site that showcase a little bit of my personality in a digital form that others can look at and get an idea of the type of person I am.

This was one of my first profile pictures, and I feel as though it tells so much about me, through my facial expression. Portraying this kind of image online helps form my identity to others who may not know me so well. Having a good profile picture that showcases who you are is truly important as you don’t want to give of the wrong idea and hurt your online identity in any way by misleading others.

Keeping up to date with the pictures is key as looks change and interests change and the profile picture is a visual representation of who you are at the moment or even of something you enjoy.

As I now have left school it was time to part ways with the old and bring my picture into a more appropriate light.

My use of profile pictures is simple for me, show me, if people recognise me they can add me, but if you can’t see me in the picture, what is the point, I could be anyone. I believe the profile picture is the most important part of your online identity and without it your words wouldn’t mean as much.

References;

· Slater, D 2002, Social relationships and identity online and offline. Handbook of new media: Social shaping and consequences of ICTs, pp.533-546.

· Guest Author, 2013, 5 Threats To Your Security When Using Social Media, Adweek, date retrieved 21stApril, http://www.adweek.com/digital/5-social-media-threats/