One of the things I learned about when first studying Communications as an A-Level student was that online platforms give people the opportunity to contact other users and view content anonymously.
Back then social networks didn’t exist as they do in their current form, where it is essential to display your true identity and communicate as yourself in order to engage and connect with other people you know.
The ability to communicate without people taking your physical demeanour and appearance into consideration is of great advantage to some people who might otherwise be treated differently because of their physical characteristics. However If people hide something though a false online identity and the communications they then make have a positive impact on the people they reach, the positive impact that could have had on the persons real identity is lost, which devalues the communication process.
If as an individual you were to come into a room and introduced yourself wearing a mask and with a false name people wouldn’t take you seriously, respect you or find you particularly easy to communicate with. Why is it any different online? If you put up a veil people cant see though it. The problem is you can’t see the mask if they are wearing one online, you can in the physical world.
I recently changed my profile picture on Twitter with the expressed intention of making that method of communication as human as possible so people can see who I am. At the time I said the following.
Changed my profile pic to an actual picture of me (before I had a little graphical avatar). Feels more direct when you see a picture of somebody’s face next to a message. 3:39 PM Jan 25th – dpwilliams
I think it makes a big difference if you can see the face of the person you are talking to, it makes it more intimate and personal, which increases the value of the message.
- I adjusted my user facing profile to one which I think is more meaningful and that represents me physically.
I think that a dehumanised online identity will have a negative impact on the way in which people communicate with each other and the understanding people have of the communications being made.
Before concluding I should mention that I believe these things are a personal preference and it’s important people do have a choice about the way in which they represent themselves online and in the physical world.
Saying that, I think…
…we can do some simple things to make our identity as clear as possible.
Different networks and situations call for people to adopt different identities if they want to communicate in different ways or engage in different narrative threads. If you are for example representing a brand then it is appropriate to display an identifiable company logo. The comments being made are on behalf of that brand so this is an appropriate way to communicate and one that people will understand and be comfortable with.
As an individual if you are using a network which is a representation of yourself as a human then it is best to be seen as one and not as a character or logo. If possible you should show a picture of yourself clearly displaying who you are. Also where possible you should use your name so that the adjacent comment is received with a meaningful human association.
The more I think about identity the more complicated it becomes!
The issue isn’t just the identity you take on in different places but also the communication partners perception of identity and the perception you have of yourself. The perception others have of your identity is also it turn governed by their own perception of themselves.
Free thinker Gregory Lent, who I follow with great interest on Twitter, mentioned to me when Tweeting about online identity that “(it is an) interesting topic .. not sufficiently understood yet, sensationalized too”. He is completely right, this is such a complicated topic, which I am not at all qualified to analyse in enough detail to give the depth to this post that is necessary to truly understand the wider issue of human identity.
When I have time I’ll try and do some reading around this subject until then I leave you with an open mind.
