Our Online Identity
PROJECT: Online Identity
ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Is it possible to create and maintain an authentic online identity?
Task:
For this final project, you will write a research report that discusses the past, present, and future implications of our online identities. Examine the effects of social media on identity whether it’s personal, social, or cultural and discuss whether it’s possible to create and maintain an authentic identify on the internet.

All students will be required to:

Use the skills that you have developed in this course.
Research the given topic so that you become an expert on it. Incorporate statistics and data.
Keep an MLA-style works cited list that will be turned in with your final product.
Develop an research report that uses clear headings, a visual aid, and formal structure to communicate a response to the question.
Your project should include:

A visual aid in the form of a chart or graph
MLA formatting – includes in-text citation and a Works Cited List
Double-spaced
12 size font (Times New Roman, Ariel)
Formal tone and mature vocabulary
You can use the provided resources to begin your research on authentic online identities. You will also analyze your own resource selections and communicate your personal connections with self, text, and the world as you address the essential question. The following resources will help you gain a basic understanding of online identities, authenticity, and the consequences of an online presence in the past, present, and future. In order to deepen your understanding so that you are able to effectively complete this project, you are required to conduct your own research as well.

the following websites provided:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-social-media-effect-a_b_3721029

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/business-education/article-how-data-sharing-era-puts-our-privacy-at-risk/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/enlightened-living/201010/the-false-face-our-social-media-persona

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-would-someone-create-a-fake-online-personality/

ANSWER

Online Identity

An online identity can be considered as a constructed presentation of oneself on the internet. Online identity does not only focus on who you are but also the key online interactions of an individual (Rainie). Considerably, as the internet continues to become a priority in day-to-day lives, issues linked to our online identities have become crucial and can impact our lives in a very significant way both negative and positive ways. As people interact with several services and online sites that require account passwords and usernames to access, there is a need to offer private information. With the growth of social identity providers such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google, users have been given more options to select when choosing the services, they need to use as well as manage their social identities. However, it is possible to create and maintain an authentic online identity.

Social Media and Online Identity

Ideally, on the internet people tend to use different identities for different levels and purposes of security and privacy. The online identity is a digital footprint that paints pictures of what and who one is. Every day, whether the user is active or not, the information contributes to the growing portrait of who we are online (Green). This portrait is used by friends, companies, and markets to target content to a specific audience.

In recent years, social media has influenced the ability to communicate with people they have met as well as those they have never met. Social media pages such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter have allowed individuals to show others what they want them to think about them. However, this has led to issues with the internet with regards to the establishment of online identities in a manner that is completely different from real-world identity.

Comments, photos, and videos posted on social media may reveal more about a person than they would wish. However, it is possible to take control of them. An authentic identity demands sharing some degree of personal information rather than attempting to maintain any sense of privacy online. Ideally, developing and controlling personal brands for potential employers has been essential nowadays. For instance, the web and other social networks have made it easier than ever for recruiters to do a quick check on job candidates.

Creating and Maintaining Authentic Online Identity

One of the ways of creating an authentic online identity is finding out what is on the web about you. Entering one’s name in the search bar of Yahoo, Google and Bing can offer a lot of information on the search engines. This offers a chance to change any irrelevant information that has been displayed on the internet. Monitoring the information that people are receiving about you online is essential in reducing the negative information on the internet. It is essential to have a routine check on internet actions since the search results change overnight.

Setting up Google alerts through an email for an account using your name is essential in knowing what people say about you. After setting up a Gmail account, the Google alerts send an email whenever a search term you offered is provided and published on the internet. Therefore, the google alerts will enable keeping track of any novel information that might be coming up on the search engines.  The only way to keep personal or sensitive private is through purchasing a domain whose aim is to minimize spam, protect online identity, and eliminate unsolicited marketing outreach. The personal URL is the most effective address that secures any information online about a person thus protecting their authentic identity.

Cleaning up content that one doesn’t want to see on the internet is an effective way of maintaining an authentic online identity. Deleting any inappropriate videos and photos that may have been uploaded or posted to sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Myspace among other social networking profile pages is essential in removing negative contents (Chen,409). Relatively, if an individual has posted a negative comment on a video or image you posted, one can request that person to remove the comment or remove the tag from the photo to prevent it from appearing on the profile page or the network. Relatively making a personal profile private can prevent anyone from having access to the profile on social networking from screen-grabbing information, and copying images that one may not want the world to see. Reading every site guideline is essential in ensuring that everything that one is doing is private.

Passwords are one of the most common techniques of protecting your identity and security. Ensuring that one uses a strong password and does not disclose any personal information when using email accounts and websites proves ones’ identity (Marwick, 18). For instance, one can log into a website and pretends to be another person in case they have access to their passwords. In this case, they can trash the other person’s identity. Therefore, it is important to pick a password that no one can guess.  Managing passwords responsible is key to maintaining an authentic online identity. For instance, ensuring that the passwords used for secure sites vary from those used for less secure sites plays a great role in protecting online identity. The image below indicates how young adults have been vulnerable to problems with identity and personal information.

Avoiding inappropriate requests and checking on requests before accepting them plays a great role in protecting online identity. Considerably, there are inappropriate solicitations and messages when one is online. These can be strange, scary, and even embarrassing. Therefore, it is important to ensure that one knows who is receiving personal information. Avoiding offering personal information through the internet and emails is essential unless there is an initiated contact with the person receiving the personal information (Cassim, Fawzia, 68).

Additionally, before accepting to key in personal information such as email address, name, credit card number among other sensitive personal data, it is important to countercheck whether the site has a privacy policy page. Lack of privacy policy page means that one is risking identity theft. It’s also important to ensure that personal information that one is not comfortable disclosing is not left on any websites. For instance, even though some cookies can be safe, some websites have relied on cookies to track private information. These have been used to track private information as well as tracking the behavior of users to maximize cookie-based user profiling. The image below shows how Facebook has been able to use cookies to create cookie-related ad preferences.

Before disposing of a computer or mobile device, it is important to delete sensitive data permanently. A wipe utility program is essential in overwriting the entire hard drive. Encrypting data will also ensure secure browsing which means that the transfer of personal information will be safe. Posting too much information on the internet can allow identity theft and access to personal details. It is important to consider limiting access to networking pages.

Ensuring that browsing devices are secure is an effective way of maintaining an authentic online identity. For instance, installing a firewall and anti-virus software and setting preferences to update the security and protections often plays a great role in protecting against infections that can compromise passwords and computer files.

Conclusion

Online identity entails the sum of interactions and characteristics of an individual online. Social media sites have greatly influence online identity due to the increased use of personal information. Developing and managing an authentic online identity is essential since it offers a platform for people to holistically understand another. There are various ways that one can establish and maintain an authentic identity. These include keeping track of personal information online, having strong passwords, using secure browsers, avoiding inappropriate requests, cleaning up inappropriate content, and setting up google alerts. As the internet grows day by day, issues linked to online identities have increased thus there is a need to develop and maintain authentic online identities.

Works Cited

Cassim, Fawzia. “Protecting personal information in the era of identity theft: just how safe is our personal information from identity thieves?.” Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal/Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad 18.2 (2015): 68-110.

Chen, Hongliang, Christopher E. Beaudoin, and Traci Hong. “Protecting oneself online: The effects of negative privacy experiences on privacy-protective behaviors.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 93.2 (2016): 409-429.

Green. R.K. The Social Media Effect: Are You Really Who You Portray Online? (2013). Retrieved from: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-social-media-effect-a_b_3721029

Marwick, Alice E. “Online identity.” A companion to new media dynamics (2013): 355-364.Zhang, Chi, et al. “Privacy and security for online social networks: challenges and opportunities.” IEEE network 24.4 (2010): 13-18.

Rainie, Lee, et al. “Anonymity, privacy, and security online.” Pew Research Center 5 (2013).