Having an online identity can be both beneficial as well as pose dangers. In the article ‘Aliases, creeping, and wall cleaning: Understanding privacy in the age of Facebook’ the author states that by not participating in social media sites such as Facebook, which is currently a major mode of communication, individuals will be left out (Raynes-Goldie, 2010). However there are also a number of implications to using Facebook such as the inability to pre-screen comments and tags before they are applied, which can result in someone posting an incriminating photo or message that you may not wish others to see and you have to hope you can remove it before anyone does sees it (Raynes-Goldie, 2010). This can affect one’s personal identity and even cause problems when future or current employers view your Facebook profile and see inappropriate material.
The article ‘Wikidentities: Young people collaborating on virtual identities in social network sites’ also addresses online identity, largely focusing on the perceptions of online identity on MySpace by a group of students. In the interview students admitted to often getting their friends or family members to create profiles for them due to a lack of technical knowledge (Mallan & Giardina, 2009). This is concerning because MySpace requires users to have personal usernames and passwords to log in to a secure page that they can update, and by sharing passwords with other people it increases the risk of online identity theft.
I also read the article ‘Friend me?’ which discussed the implications of befriending students on Facebook for Information professionals working in schools. This article highlights the need for information professionals to be aware of school policies regarding social networking and encouraged options such as creating a Facebook page for the library, rather than accepting student friend requests on a personal page and overstepping school policies. Overall these three articles provided insight into the possible implications of having an online identity and provided suggestions and tips to avoid these potential consequences such as being mindful of what you share.
References
Harris, C. (2010). Friend me? School policy may address friending students online, School Library Journal, 1 April. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6724235.html
Mallan, K. & Giardina, N. (2009). Wikidentities: Young people collaborating on virtual identities in social network sites, First Monday, 14(6), 1 June. Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2445/2213
Raynes-Goldie, K. (2010). Aliases, creeping, and wall cleaning: Understanding privacy in the age of Facebook, First Monday, 15(1), 4 January. Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2775/2432
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