One person, multiple identities – the pros and cons of having multiple online identities

When considering the advantages and disadvantages of having multiple identities, I believe it’s necessary to consider what we actually use the internet for. As I discussed last week, a digital visitor may primarily use the internet for shopping or online banking and thus may not feel the need to have multiple accounts across social media.

But that’s not to say they don’t have an online identity. Adam quotes Warburton who uses a variety of scenarios to demonstrate the broad nature of online identities, from “a simple authentication of an online banking transaction, to online personas lived out through blogs and Facebook.” Therefore, to some extent, all digital users, whether they consider themselves a “visitor” or a “resident”, have an online identity of some kind.

It is this question of what a digital user chooses to use the internet for that determines the pros and cons of having multiple identities. For brands, having multiple identities can be advantageous for marketing purposes. One of my favourite brands to follow on social media is cookie company, Oreo as they post fresh, creative content across all of their social media sites. They have multiple identities in order to reach different audiences and spread the latest news about their product.

Multiple identities can also be beneficial for those looking for a way to communicate in a safe haven. This is particularly the case, as examined by Robert T. Cserni, for “LGBT youth, who may benefit from having a supporting social network while coping with the challenges of forming their sexual orientation/gender identity.”(Cserni, 2015)

But the internet can also be a dangerous space.

Identity fraud, lack of privacy and authenticity are common problems across the internet. Casserly argues that “because people [marketers and individuals] have given them incredible control over personas and personalities online, you can never be 100% certain of a person’s identity” (Casserly, 2011). A favourite blogger of mine, Em Talks was recently a victim of identity fraud when another blogger stole her identity in order to receive free PR samples. Her story demonstrates that even experienced digital users are at risk.

Casserly also mentions the difficulties associated with fragmenting your personality into different subsets. If you have multiple identities online, can you ever be a complete person offline? While I can’t find a thesis’ on the topic at the moment, it would be interesting to find out if the number of multiple personality disorder cases has risen as a result of the internet.

*Side note: I have created a short Powtoon to discuss a few extra pros and cons to having multiple identities. *

Bibliography:

Meghan Casserly, “Multiple Personalities and Social Media: The Many Faces of Me”, Forbes, 26th January 2011, [electronic resource] <http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2011/01/26/multiple-personalities-and-social-media-the-many-faces-of-me/2/&gt;

Robert T. Cserni , Ilan Talmud (2015), To Know that you are Not Alone: The Effect of Internet Usage on LGBT Youth’s Social Capital, in Laura Robinson , Shelia R. Cotten , Jeremy Schulz (ed.) Communication and Information Technologies Annual (Studies in Media and Communications, Volume 9) Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.161 – 182, [electronic resource] <http://www.researchgate.net/publication/277010384_To_Know_that_You_Are_Not_Alone_The_Effect_of_Internet_Usage_on_LGBT_Youth’s_Social_Capital&gt;

Adam Stiles, “Topic 2: Discuss the Argument For and Against Having More Than One Online Identity”, [Electronic Resource], <https://adamstiles93.wordpress.com/2014/10/24/topic-2-discuss-the-arguments-for-and-against-having-more-than-one-online-identity/&gt;

Em Sheldon, “Identity Theft; Fraud in the Blogging Community”, [Electronic Resource], <http://www.emtalks.co.uk/2015/07/identity-theft-fraud-in-blogging.html&gt;

Oreo, “Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) | Twitter”, <https://twitter.com/Oreo&gt;

Oreo, “Oreo Cookie – Vine”, <https://vine.co/Oreo&gt;

Bibliography for Powtoon:

Digital-Identity, “Advantages of Digital Identity”, Slideshare, 20th February 2013, [Electronic Resource] <http://www.slideshare.net/Digital-identity/advantages-of-digital-identity&gt;

Digital-Identity, “Disadvantages of Digital Identity”, Slideshare, 20th February 2013, [Electronic Resource] <http://www.slideshare.net/Digital-identity/disadvantages-of-digital-identity&gt;