Cyber Sleuthing and Digital Identity

Can the guy across the office tell if you've been 'stalking' him on  Facebook?
Photo taken from here

Cyber Sleuthing

Hello fellow friends and followers! I hope all is going well and that you managed to survive the storm from Monday. For this weeks blog post we were asked to cyber sleuth another classmate. When we were first asked to do so, I was kind of excited. Now before you ask, no I am not a stalker… I just thought it would be fun as I have never been told to do it. I imagined myself working for an FBI agent or something (I’m a crime freak).

Jokes aside, I partnered with Courtney Roppel and we cyber sleuthed each other.

Kipling Citizen, March 1 by Kipling Citizen - issuu
A screenshot of an article I found!

The first thing I did was looked at her blog and looked at the About Me page. Here I quickly found out a lot about her. I was able to find out where she lives, where she goes to school, and a little bit about her family. Another thing she shared on her About Me page was a college of photos. Within the photos you got the idea that she works with cattle, travels, has four siblings, and was competitive in sports.

The next thing I did was popped her name into google and started scrolling. Here I found her Twitter handle, Facebook handle, among many other things like newspaper articles and previous High School awards and winnings. After that, I did not seem to find any else that I already did not know from my previous findings.

Spying The Cw GIF

When I was cyber sleuthing Courtney, I was able to find a couple things about her but if someone were trying to find more about her, I am sure they could. I am sure that they would be able to find out every single little detail about her if they looked hard enough which could be a scary thought to some. This leads to my next topic that we have previously talked about in class… Digital Identity.

Digital Identity

In one of our previous classes and throughout the semester in EDTC 300 we have discussed Twitter and what its use is. I have shared my opinion on Twitter and how I am not a fan of it but at the same time I have came to realize that it is useful when used properly. Along with the talk about Twitter, we have discussed a lot about Digital Identity and what that might look like. Even though someone might have a certain appearance on social media, they might be the total opposite when you see them in person. For example, I will use myself. If one were to go and look at my Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., you would get a certain opinion of me if you have not met me in person. You might see this put together, nicely dressed, out going person which is somewhat true but if you were to meet me in person you would soon realize that I am a very messy, outgoing, crazy girl who just wants to have fun.

faces identity GIF by ewanjonesmorris

There were two videos we had to watch this week, the first being The Price of Shame and the second being “One Tweet Can Ruin Your Life.” The one I related to the most and stuck out to me was “One Tweet Can Ruin Your Life.” The reason being that if you are not cautious and thinking about what you’re saying, you might say something you will regret later on. That one thing you said could be a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off and wreck something that you might have worked so hard for.

Your Digital Identity is what your friends, family, coworkers, and employers or future employers might see. Thinking about these people browsing my social media and developing these opinions about me without even getting to know me can be concerning. It also makes me think about look at how I appear on social media and then leads me to thinking about how everyone is probably like me and appears differently on the internet. It is quite common for people to have multiple online identies which can also be a concern.

4 key problems with digital identity and why we need a new approach | CSO  Online
Photo taken from here

When it comes to Digital Identity and Cyber Sleuthing, everyone is welcome to have their own opinion and this is mine. I believe that they each have their own positives and negatives just like everything does in this world. Thank you all for tuning in to this weeks blog post and I hope you have a splendid Easter weekend!

Ciera

One thought on “Cyber Sleuthing and Digital Identity

  1. Hey, it is pretty crazy what you can find out about someone from a simple google search. I remember when I was in EDTC300 doing the same thing. Something i really gathered from the project however, was the fact that I do not think you can truly know what a person is going through or what their life is like by a simple search. It will never compare to actually getting to know them and spend time with them. Great work!

Leave a Reply to Logan Fettes Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *