Digital Identity…How Much Does It Really Affect our Lives?

For this blog post, I teamed up with a group of three and we each picked a group member to cybersleuth. When I searched for my partner’s first and last name on google, her Twitter, blog, Facebook, Pinterest, Prezi, and Youtube account came up. Her blog is the first thing that pops up so that is great for any employer that may google her. As for images on google, about 3 pictures from her Twitter and one picture from Facebook appears. Two pictures of other students from this class actually show up when you scroll further down in images. This is from my partner replying to these Twitter posts I believe. When I searched on Facebook, I found two different accounts, both containing basic information like her birthday, hometown, etc. I found out that we have many mutual friends. It caught my attention as I went to high school with almost all of these friends. I found out she is from a town that is roughly an hour from my hometown, so that makes sense…small world! Also, my google search showed a document containing her name from a previous job. Everything I found about my partner was super positive. She is very passionate about science education, social justice, Every Child Matters, and inclusivity.

I was shocked at how easy it was to find out things about my partner but also shocked by how little I found. Everything I found was positive and pertained to her basic daily life. Friends, family, and education are the main aspects I found. I might have a different takeaway than most from this activity, but after seeing the two other classmates pop up when I searched my partner’s name, I realized you also have to watch what other people post. I have many pictures from my high school graduation on my Facebook feed that I did not post, but my friends tagged me in. You may not intend to post something inappropriate but it may appear online another way. Yes, we just take pictures of the fun things we’re doing without even thinking, but sometimes we have to take a second and think “am I alright with everyone seeing this picture and content?” because even things that are not intended to go online may end up online.

This thought of other people posting photos of us made me think of the article Having Multiple Online Identities is More Normal Than You Think. This article proposed the idea of having multiple accounts on one social media platform. At first, I thought “that’s crazy because it seems like so much added effort that is completely unnecessary”, but then I read further and realized that it may actually be very beneficial. It is so true that each social media platform has a different purpose and audience, and we do need to direct our content toward each particular audience. The only critique I have of this article is that I think this is something that people with careers pertaining to technology and social media should do. For instance, if someone has three Instagram accounts, 2 Twitter accounts, and 2 Facebook accounts, it is very likely that their life will revolve around social media. I would love to have a personal account and professional account, but only on one or two platforms. I think if we have any more than that, our lives may focus on adding content to all of these accounts and further result in us living our full lives on the internet. 

“Different sites, different audiences, different purposes.”

~ Nicole Lee, Engadget

We all need to be cautious and aware of our digital identities. After I did my cyber sleuthing, I realized how much I can find about people online. The things I found were obviously not harmful or unpleasant, but rather just simple little things that you would normally have to find out after having a conversation with someone. It is kind of freaky that you really can get to know someone just through their digital identity. In Jon Ronson’s TED Talk, “One Tweet Can Ruin Your Life”, he explains how the online world is powerful. This is so true. Behind a screen, we typically think we have more power. Jon Ronson goes on to talk about Justine Sacco and how her life was destroyed after a single tweet. Justine tweeted something that was taken as racist and received a ton of backlash. She explained that she did not intend the tweet to be harmful. That is the thing with social media…things can be taken the wrong way. People started joining together and hating on her. What appalled me was the tweets from other people while they were hating on Justine. These tweets wished for her to be assaulted, and went as far as getting her fired. I do not understand how people can say worse things than Justine, but they get a free pass just because it was directed at her. This is a prime example of how we abuse our power online.