COM 125: Identity

When I first heard about Facebook, I didn't think too much about the fact that I was establishing my own identity and showing it to anyone I became friends with. Not only that, but I did not realize at first that anyone on my network could also see all of my information as well. I didn't put all of my personal information on my profile like phone number, address or screen name because I wasn't too sure who, exactly, could see my information. Those tv shows about catching stalkers really freak me out, so I tried to make my profile simple, but not too simple.

After I set-up an account and Facebook became more popular, I began to understand the importance of keeping my information only visible to those I give permission to. Just recently, I went into my preferences and checked all boxes that only allowed my friends to see my information. I am not one to just be friends with someone on Facebook for the sake of having a lot of "friends."

The fact that I didn't want to make my profile too simple but not give all of my personal info away demonstrated that I wanted to make my profile about me. This was a chance for me to reflect on who I am and tell all about me: my interests, favorite quotes, music, etc. I truly believe that Facebook is an example of my online identity because I can put whatever I want and sho whomever I want anything I want. Being able to post pictures especially helps to create my internet identity. Though my identity online matches who I really am, I know there are crazy people out there who create false online identities for sick reasons, which is why I made my privacy settings so strict and the reason why I am only friends with people I know.

This online identity aides in creating reputation (especially since they re-vamped Facebook) because as soon as you log on, you are informed of what your friends have been up to. No matter what you say on someone's wall or what pictures are posted of you, all of your friends can see it. This plays a role in one's reputation. In my case, my identity and reputation through Facebook is real and reflects who I am, but this is not true for every person. Like I said before, those who are falsely identified on Facebook have a false reputation. It can go either way. The problem is, it is so hard to identify who is fake if you do not know them.

I specifically did not create a MySpace because I was not sure of the parameters with other people. For all I know, any person could see my info if they searched for me. That freaks me out.