Online Identity And Real Identity

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An extensive debate has formed over the years since the explosion of social networks about online and offline identities. An identity is defined according to (Oxforddictionaries.com, 2014) as the characteristics determining who or what a person or a thing is. An online identity is defined as a identity that a person establish in an online environment such as social networks. An offline identity is defined as a identity that a person establish in an offline environment such as in real life.
The debate about these identities is that for one person these identities either differ or they are the same. Online profiling utilizes online identities and therefore the reason for this extensive debate. Is the identity that are being profiled the real identity of the actual person? According to the research done by (Nauert, 2013) there is a bit of an overlap between online and offline identities. But is this overlap great enough to definitely say that online and offline identities are the same? People find it difficult to understand their real identity (An unquiet Mind, 2012) and therefore the natural trend of online identities is to differ from the real identity, because people are still finding their real identity. If you cannot understand your real identity how can you establish an online identity based on your real identity?
What we post, share and do online depends mainly on two things. Firstly, the "friends" and our relationships with them on a social platform (Rowe, 2010). For each different relationship we have with people we choose to share certain information about ourselves, for example you won't share the same information with your friends than what you share with your mother or even your partner. As mentioned by (Rowe, 2010) th...

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...The Conflict of Online & Offline Identities. [online] Available at: http://skeptic.skepticgeek.com/2012/02/25/online-offline-identities-conflict/ [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014].
• Mccarty, K. M. 2012. Examination of How One's Perceived Online Identity on Social Media Affects One's Perceived Real-Life Identity.
• Nauert, R. 2013. Online Personality Influences Real-Life Identity - Psych Central News. [online] Available at: http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/01/21/online-personality-influences-real-life-identity/50633.html [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014].
• Oxforddictionaries.com, (2014). identity: definition of identity in Oxford dictionary (British & World English). [online] Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/identity [Accessed 3 May. 2014].
• Rowe, M. (2010). The credibility of digital identity information on the social web: a user study. pp.35--42.

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