Creating an online identity

Creating an identity online was not a very conscious decision at first for me. It appeared to be one of the easiest modes of communicating my thoughts and keeping in touch with my family and friends. I have been active on a number of social media platforms that include Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and recently Twitter (Lowenthal & Dennen, Distant Education, 38;2:137-140).

After becoming a regular user of all of these social media platforms, I became more aware of what online identity meant and what the world of social media can entail. Creating an identity then had a lot more meaning than I had imagined. I realised that social media can lead you to portray yourself in a different way than you recognise yourself to be. It then became a conscious choice to develop an identity or rather maintain my own identity on all my social media platforms. As an individual I always believed that being yourself and putting the real version of you out there is the best way to be. I followed this philosophy through my online journey on Instagram- my most preferred choice of social media application in today’s world. They say “a picture speaks a thousand words” and the idea of portraying my world through any form of digitial media appeals to me.

Every individual has their own interpretation of art and as an individual who strongly believes in her choices and decisions, I have created an online identity that is very unique to my personality. As much as I am an extrovert, I also believe in limiting the access to my online content. This has ensured that my thoughts, images and videos are shared, watched and accessed only by my friends and family members who follow me on instagram. I had made the conscious decision to make my profile private and it is one choice I will always stay true to. With the growing concerns of privacy becoming a deep rooted issue in the world of internet, I believe that my online identity that reflects a lot of who I am remains private. This ensures that I am myself and not afraid of posting any of my views, photographs or videos on my instagram handle. It limits the engagement of the members on the instagram family however gives me the peace of mind that I am sharing any of those details with people who I have accepted and chosen to stay in touch with.

Although instagram has a lot to offer content wise, a feature that I have grown to be very fond of is termed as ‘boomerang’. It is a feature that was initiated by instagram and has grown heaps and bounds in popularity. The feature enables you to take a short video which then plays in a loop repeatedly.

Although most posts on my instagram account are a reflective of my everyday life, I have certain limitations on the kind of content I post or publish on any of my online media profiles. Ensuring my privacy through keeping the locations of my post generalised rather than providing a specific is critical to my profile. Inspite of all my social media profiles being private (accessible only by my friends) I am aware of the access that the general public can have to my photos and content. I keep a constant check on the privacy filters I use and update them from time to time to ensure restricted access to my instagram profile as well.

Reference(s)

Social presence, identity and online learning: research development and needs. Patrick R Lowenthal, Venessa P Dennen, Distant Education, 38;2:137-140.