Changing yourself to fit a more desirable profile has become the norm in some online communication of today. Looking at what we project as the actual representation of ourselves, it is sometimes unclear if this is our true “identity,” or one that we want others to interpret or see in place of our own self.
When developing an online profile for any type of online identity, whether it is Match.com, Facebook, or creating your own avatar, there is always the potential to create a profile that is more desirable — to yourself — for the outside, online world to read and see. In dating sites, men will say that they are taller than they truly are and women will post pictures that are conveniently absent of the wrinkles and pounds that they have put on in recent years. Facebook profiles will tag and untag pictures where the individual might look slightly inebriated, and therefore not want their boss to see what is going on during the weekends. Second Life is an online community where users can live lives purely online that are completely different from reality; they have jobs, exchange virtual money, and have online relationships. The users create avatars, or a virtual person, and then live their lives in that virtual world. The difference in these “second life” worlds from Facebook and Match.com is that your real identity can almost certainly be kept a secret. On dating sites, the truth will come out eventually on the coffee date, someone will tag a picture of you on Facebook, and your true self will somehow be known. These are all truly technologies of self, as stated in Thurlow et al. (2004, pg. 98) In second life/avatar-type online environments or other more anonymous newsgroups, users can truly pretend to either be someone else, or in theory only let the details be known that you want to be – sexual orientation, skin color, or disabilities.
There are assumptions made about race and bigotry spreading online — according to Nakamura, some scholars have asserted that this spread could have been halted because of the freedom that the internet brings (2002, pg. 107). This theory is flawed, however. Scholars and editorial writers have assumed that since the physical bodies are not visible, then racial prejudice and bigotry cannot be present. There have been more in-depth discussions on race and social injustice online — one example is the Chicago Tribune’s blog, “Exploring Race.” The drawback and unfortunate reality is that stereotypes and prejudices have transferred over to the internet and online world.
Assumptions can also be made about a person’s online identity, but many times, it can be wrong. Within dating sites, there could be assumptions made before meeting men for coffee dates, with conclusions drawn through email conversations, text messaging, and their online profile. Sometimes these assumptions could incorrectly be drawn that the date result in more in-depth conversations about the man’s belief in God, family relationships, and social skills. This, of course, is never totally the case. However, there are some times when that online identity can be reconciled with what is truly the real person; many people have met and married off of online dating sites. They adapted to each other during the dating time, deleted their online profiles, and were generally very questioning of each other because of the “newness” and the uncertainty of what details might be exaggerated on both sides because of the online curtain that had previously been drawn between them.
Examining the racial and social impacts of an online identity is quite important; it is a lasting electronic imprint that cannot be undone. Even though a user might not truly believe it, they want to put an idea out that they think will make them look a certain way to the public or to a certain viewer. Other users will be open and honest about who they truly are; however, the truth can usually only be found in face to face communication.
References:
Nakamura, L. (2002). Chapter 5: Menu-driven identities: making race happen online. In Cybertypes: race, ethnicity and identity on the internet (pp. 101-35). New York: Routledge.
Thurlow, C., Lengel, L., Tomic, A. (2004). Computer mediated communication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Ltd.
Turner Trice, D. (2010, January 18). Poll: Americans less hopeful about Obama’s impact on race relations. Blog entry posted to http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/race/.
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