The User ID’s people apply to themselves on the Internet or social networking sites usually represent whom they want to be known as in the virtual world. A name that sounds cute, such as xXangel, can give off the perception that the person is possibly a girl and has a “girly” attitude. A social networking name usually represents the person’s character or how the person wants to be known. Although there are exceptions, such as in a PBS documentary I saw called Growing Up Online, a twelve-year-old kid on Facebook chose the name Clay Calamity. Doubting he knew the meaning of the word calamity he said he used it because it sounded cool. Some usernames are made also because they can have a catchy rhyme with another word, but looking more into the profile would better express who the person is if their username doesn’t meet the standards.
When it comes to email addresses, I find the names to usually be the persons name, or part of their name. Since most people text and emailing has decreased, I think the need to make a catchy name is less important. On Facebook or MySpace people see your name every time they click on your page, which could be multiple times a day. The importance of an e-mail is it’s body, while the user ID of a social networker is not only part of their profile, but one of the first words a friend see’s when going to their page.
The way people identify each other on networking sites is through the names they have, music they listen to, and photos they put up. If someone has a bunch of half naked photos they could be seen as promiscuous. If another person is wearing black lipstick and their profile plays emotional music people will label them Goth All the aspects of a social networking site is meant to allow the user to express themselves. These all-about-me pages do a good job as self-expression, but it can’t stop the viewers from expressing their own thoughts about the profile or from labeling.
An example of how someone finds themselves and projects that identity can be taken from the Growing Up Online documentary. This unpopular fourteen old girl, labeled Goth or emo put up a website with a different username (Autumn Edows) and pictures of herself modeling in lingerie. She made herself look 18 and became famous online until her high school made her shut it down. Although it wasn’t real, she felt happier in that virtual world and made a statement for herself.
An exception to the use of a username being, as stated in the article, lucky numbers or a person’s name, would be if someone makes a profile for devious acts. Predators or bullies could make alternative identities to harass others without giving away their identities. There was a movie on television about social networking where this 13-14 year old girl got her own computer and made a profile. People in her school harassed her and her best friend made a profile pretending to be a male from another school that supported her. Although the girl didn’t know it was her friend, she spoke personally to the guy who then later started to make up rumors and join in on the bullying. It wasn’t until the end that she found out her friend made the fake identity.
I think creating multiple identities is a waste of time because if you want to show people who you are, show it all in one profile instead of hiding behind fake ones. It is also time consuming for the user to have to check each one everyday to keep up with posts. After all, the point of creating a profile is to be who you want others to see you as.
