JIALE GU-GUJD1901
As the position of the Internet in our lives becomes more and more important. We unconsciously spend more time on the Internet every day.
According to Ofcom, UK adults are now spending over 20 hours a week online: twice as much as 10 years ago. Similar metrics have been reported for the US, with the biggest chunk of online time (around 30%) devoted to social networking.
In online life, “Each person should be aware of the personal that he or she signals to the world. “(Saar-Tsechansky M, 2019, p502). People can cover their true identity by choosing an anonymous method. In fact everyone has multiple identities in daily life.
In a sense, the formation of our online identity is not only something that we do (by creating a vlog or sharing selfies on Instagram, for instance); it’s also something that happens to us as we do these things. Identity is both a product and a process (Poletti A and Rak J,2014, p. 8). Identity can be explained in many meanings, in a simple way it is who you are and what you did. Identity is your character.
In reality identity, I am an international student living in Melbourne. I like to make friends, go shopping, watch movies and TV shows. I really like to learn the latest news about beauty and music. I also like going to many famous restaurants, enjoy dishes. I like enjoying my life in Melbourne. I like to share my life with others, and I like real and positive characters.
In my online identity, I also showed a girl enjoys her life very much. But on different social platforms I will also show different online identities.
On Twitter, I follow many accounts of big fashion brands, so that I can learn about new products. I will also pay attention to some celebrities, to know how they would spend their day , and I pay attention to their movies, TV series. At the same time I will also use Twitter to complete my academic works. I use Twitter to get the latest news. I am acting as a silent person on Twitter.
I communicate more with my close friends on WeChat. We like to comment on each other’s posts to post our ideas. Through WeChat, I could video communicate with my family, friends and classmates in my hometown. I can express my recent thoughts to them more clearly and share my daily life with them. Only family members, close friends, and classmates I know will add WeChat.
WeChat screenshot by Ella
These behaviors are no different from my identity in reality life. I will also keep my name on WeChat so that my classmates and family can find me in the address book.
However, the other aspect about me is that on the Internet, I will use more social networks and skills to wrap myself, I would like myself look a little bit more perfect and different online.
I will give myself a very cute name and personalized signature online. I will also often post some negative texts to express my feelings, because my family can’t see the Instagram, and I show more aspects that they don’t know about me.
Although I understand this may be a bit hypocritical, I really like some friends who have not met before to liked my pictures that I have posted and praise me a little. From Cambridge’s Psychometrics Centre studies show that “likes” reflect how extroverted, intellectual and prudent people are.
INSTAGRAM SCREENSHOT BY ELLA
In online life, for example, there will be many followers in my ins account, which I have never seen or even knew. For them, I showed them something more different, I will post some pretty-looking selfies, some photos after going to the gym, or some photos of myself cooking.
In real life, I am not very confident in these aspects. In the role of the online identity, I used skills well to make me look perfect. “personal branding message be clear and consistent, creating an air of authenticity” (Labrecque et al. 2011, p. 39). I use different social skills. For example, when I chat with strangers, I look shy and send out few messages.
I like my character in reality life and my performance in online life. I understand that everyone’s online identity is uncertain, and some are even hypocritical. So I will not let my online identity affect my real life too much, I will learn more skills to balance me online, so that I can make more friends and enjoy more online social life for me bring convenience and happiness.
ELLAAAA 