In today’s digital age, our online presence has become an integral part of our identity, shaping how we are perceived by others and influencing our personal and professional relationships. From social media profiles to email communication, these interactions offer a window into who we are. Understanding one’s digital identity is crucial in today’s interconnected world for several reasons. Firstly, how we present ourselves online directly impacts our personal and professional relationships. In the digital realm, first impressions are often formed through a quick scan of social media profiles, online comments, and shared content. Secondly, our digital identity has profound implications for privacy and data security. Every click, like, and comment leaves a digital footprint that can be tracked, analyzed, and potentially exploited by third parties. Lastly, our digital identity is intricately linked to our reputation, both online and offline.I have taken a dive into my digital persona and have reflected on how that aligns with how I view myself in the real world.
When talking about my digital persona and who I am online it is important to define and list all of the platforms and modes of media in which I am displaying and expressing myself through online. The platforms that I spend a majority of time on and present myself through are social media sites such as SnapChat, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. I also use sights for educational and professional purposes as well such as Blackboard and Linkedin. When going through my profiles and activity on each of these digital media platforms I found that I present myself significantly differently depending on the platform that I am on. And this is on all levels of presentation and communication. Beginning with my Avatars, I noticed that for both my Linkedin and Gmail avatars I am wearing a suit. Since I use both of these for either educational and business purposes I have chosen an avatar that will make me come across professional and serious. This is different from my Instagram profile picture where it is a picture of me from one of my vacations in Miami. Instagram is where I communicate and interact the most with friends, peers, and friends of friends. My profile picture here rather than signaling professionalism is attempting to showcase a fun and interesting lifestyle. Or my YouTube profile where I am making a goofy pose and smiling at the camera to advertise a personality that is in my YouTube videos. I also found to no surprise that my avatars were congruent with the content that was posted to the platform. On LinkedIn I have posted my educational and work experience. On Instagram there are more pictures of my travels, friends, and girlfriend. And on YouTube content that is meant to be entertaining and comedic.
Although there were clear differences in how I posted on specific platforms there were also parts of my personality that remained consistent throughout most of the digital media platforms. I found myself leaning towards a more humorous tone and not taking it too seriously. I am not one to engage in serious and complex political discourse nor did I ever find myself posting about/getting in disagreements with others. On Instagram I engage with comments on my posts jestfully. I have uploaded many Tik Toks, YouTube videos, and Snapchat stories of me and my friends being funny and making jokes. I feel like overall my online persona uniquely captures the essence of my offline personality. There are at least a few hours of video content available to me and one notable aspect of my online persona that mirrors my real-life self is my inclination towards humor and lightheartedness. As well as if you look at my Instagram you would get the idea that I like to travel a lot which does reflect reality. One of the only differences being I seem a lot cooler on my Instagram than I actually am in real life. Which makes sense as I only post the best pictures of me with the best angles and of the best moments of my life.
What I learned about digital media after taking a deep dive into my digital footprint is that you usually have to look at multiple platforms to start getting a more in depth view of someone’s personality. For the most part Instagram is going to be pretty shallow as it is mainly picture based. And Facebook may just be how people interact with close friends and families. Then, you might have to check out someone’s twitter to see what they think about certain topics. I also learned that even though there was a lot of accuracy in my online persona that doesn’t mean it covered my entire personality. You can’t really go online and find my deep thoughts about the world or even know where I stand politically. Part of this is intentional and part of it is because I do tend to keep those things to myself in general.
In conclusion, I found that while the parts of my personality that were displayed online were pretty accurate to me, my online persona did not reach the depth of personality that my close friends and family know in my real life interactions.
