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How authentic is your identity on social media?

Does it change depending on what social media platform you are using?

I know mine does.

Why would I want everyone on my Facebook to know where I live, study, and work? I may have met all of my ‘friends’ on there once or twice at least, but it doesn’t mean they should be able to know everything about me by simply viewing my profile. That is just calling for a stalker. Instead, I have messed with the system. According to Facebook, I went to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. I live in London and go to Oxford, while working as the Chief Executive Officer at Gucci. Now we all know this isn’t true. It’s just simple trickery. I am rebelling against the status-quo in the least rebellious way possible. If someone is actually interested in what I am doing they will take time out of their day to talk to me. For the rest of the world, they can go on believing I am a stylish mutant working for the X-men part time while studying.

Social media ‘elicits certain kinds of performances of self’ according to the reading by McNeill (2012). This statement resonates true to most of us. On most of our social networks many of us conform and only act in certain ways. We share what is expected of us and hide what may be taboo. The authenticity of our online selves has changed as digital technology has changed (Kuttainen, 2015) Facebook is a prime example of a network that allows you to only express yourself if you conform to their guidelines and standards. We have accepted this as normal, and act within the barriers they’ve built to shape us.

Tumblr on the other hand, while still having community guidelines and standards, gives one more ‘self-expressive’ freedom online which is often un-found on other social media platforms. It is not asked of you to supply copious amounts of personal details about yourself. What you choose to give and do on there is all up to you. I see people being completely themselves on this network. They have surrounded themselves with a community that identifies similar to them. There is no underlying fear that someone is going to see and judge you because you believe that you were born as a wolf in a human body. This is because you are surrounded by an online community that supports and understands you, and will defend you if a situation like this ever occurred. I don’t personally identify as a wolf, or any animal, but I am happy for these people that they feel the internet (Tumblr) has given them the freedom to be themselves, not what everyone else wants them to be.

The internet is lucky to have Tumblr, without it, social networking would categorise everyone into certain genres with no in-between. Tumblr elicits all kinds of performance of self.

Reference

McNeill, L. (2012). There Is No" I" in Network: Social Networking Sites and Post human Auto/Biography. Biography, 35(1), 65-82.

Kuttainen, V. (2015). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place, Week 6: Networked Narratives: Intertextuality. Retrieved from: http://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/

Image Reference

Boyd, D. (2012). Truth, Lies, and 'Doxxing': The Real Moral of the Gawker/Reddit Story. Retrieved from: http://www.wired.com/2012/10/truth-lies-doxxing-internet-vigilanteism/