The Low-Down on Online Identity Management

PsychCentral has made a bold prediction about the future of social media networks.  Because of "identity management,"  PsychCentral suggests that future generations will turn their attention towards messaging apps that will allow them to mass communicate with a limited number of individuals, such as close friends.  In turn, "big" social networks will suffer a loss.

Identity Management, put simply, is controlling how an individual presents themselves to people around them.  Online, identity management consists of filtering your thoughts and opinions to make sure they fit into the mold that you have shaped for yourself.  In other words, it is choosing what you want to share.  PsychCentral suggests that, with intimate social networks where you are connected with close individuals, identity management necessitates less time and effort- essentially, you can "be yourself." 

The study attributes its claims to the falling number of contributors on Facebook.  They assume, whenever networks encourage users to connect with people that they don't "really know," they share less.  This decline in posts or comments is said to stem from identity management.  We filter ourselves to please our followers.  Sometimes we walk on eggshells on social media in order to avoid offending someone.  I agree with this, at least in most cases- There are times when people purposely reveal their offensive opinions to prove a point or create a rise out of others.

I know from personal experience that I often find myself filtering what I decide to share with others.  I want to please my followers and friends, without making any offensive claims that will result in backlash.  (We all know what happened to PR Justine with her Africa and AIDS tweet).  Because of my desire to craft a creative tweet, post, blog, or even photo caption worthy of praise, I don't share everything that I want to.  This affects the quantity of my contributions.  

For example, my twitter feed yesterday was filled with posts about the sad lives of duke fans.  Each tweet sported the crafty hash tag "#dookfans," with witty evidence about why duke sucks.  I had to hop on the bandwagon, because this seemed like an easy way to claim my fifteen minutes of fame.  I thought about what I hated more than ANYTHING, and the answer was immediately clear.  I quickly tapped away the perfect tweet:

Just before I reached for the tweet button, I daydreamed of the record number of favorites and retweets that I would receive from this tweet.  Suddenly, I remembered the only reason why I care about the ugly shoes in the first place: They are all around me.  Here at UNC, when warm weather strikes, Chacos season begins. Even some of my best friends wear Chacos. They are aware of my opinion of their contribution to fashion suicide, but.. that does not mean that I need to compare them to duke fans or share my distaste so publicly.  I weighed the pros and cons of sharing the tweet, and decided against it.  

This is just one example of the thought process that may go through many users' heads before sharing their thoughts in a public forum.  But the key is that these networks are public.  Just as in any real public setting, it is normal to filter your thoughts before sharing them with others.  Ever heard the saying "think before you speak?" So, no, I do not believe that identity management will be the ultimate demise of large social networks.  On the contrary, I think identity management adds to their value.

The intent of these networks is to connect a large base of people publicly, and users typically know this when they sign on.  I think that the identity management behind social media contributions may decrease the quantity of potential posts, but it definitely increases the quality.  Identity Management saves us from an overwhelming number of annoyingly irrelevant or opinionated posts.  Although their presence is still known in the social media world, they occur much more infrequently than they potentially could. 

 In addition, without users sharing every idea that comes to their mind, offensive or not, a certain worth is added to the contributions that are offensive or extremely opinionated.  Whether you agree or disagree with the post, commentary that takes a stand on something controversial sparks interest in onlookers.  If we were constantly surrounded by these posts, we might become desensitized to some of the greatest social media speculations of our time.