True identity
It was triggered by a shared obsession with Twitter and a story another friend of mine told me last week. He was preparing to interview someone for a job and so he Googled her. In the results, he noticed his ‘online name’ (you know – the name people tend to use on Flickr, Last.fm, etc.) so he Googled that. What he got was some VERY personal information that the candidate had posted to various discussion lists.
That need to keep multiple identities online – and to make sure they are separate – is something people are just waking up to. I’m told there are even companies who’ll help you manage your online identity (but I’ve not verified that, yet).
One other interesting point is on the icons or avatars that people use to represent themselves online (I mean the tiny photos that people tend to have next to their username on something like Flickr).
Many people put distorted or odd representations of themselves, rather than a plain portrait, knowing that this is a public face and wanting to hide or obscure themselves. My strong impression is that women are even less likely to use their portrait than men – to keep off unwanted attention.
However, we still invest some emotion in our online identities and put effort and care into even the identities that are far from ‘true’ representations of ourselves.
(By the way, check out excite.co.uk which has been transformed in the last few months as Amanda and her colleagues have been adding more social networking features to it.)
About the author
Giles has been making products more usable for over fifteen years. He was President of the UK Usability Professionals’ Association from 2003-2007 and speaks frequently on usability in the UK and overseas. He writes on usability for Revolution magazine and was one of the editors of the PAS 78 accessibility guide from the British Standards Institute. Email Giles, or call +44 (0)117 946 3930
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And what’s your online identity ;)
Looking at community sites for late teens. Girls almost instantly put in photos against their profiles (within a couple of minutes of joining). It’s the boys that are more often using alternate images.
Is it just me or is there something very narcissistic about online social networks? In contrast to real life social networks users feel the need to pour their souls out, revealing as much personal information as possible, to anyone who will listen. Imagine walking into a bar and announcing to everyone that your favorite colour is blue, you love oasis and you’ve come to this bar looking for that special someone!