Blog Post 2: My Digital Identity

• What is a digital identity?
  • A digital identity is information associated to any online figure, a person, organization, or even a system! A digital identity builds up as a user shares, and interacts online.
• How do personal versus professional approaches to digital identity affect social media use?
  • In my opinion, I’ve found that personal identities look to exemplify an ideal persona for a person, their friends, their political beliefs, their religion, and their hobbies. Think of an Instagram post at the beach – the person is showing off a trip they had fun at. 
  • Whereas a professional persona will more than likely need to uphold a preconceived idealistic person. One who is very hirable, has no downsides, and an impressive resume. 
  • With this in mind, a personal digital identity may tweet a controversial opinion, but an average professional person absolutely would not think of it as it could cast a bad light on them.
• How do digital identities converge in networked publics – what are the impacts and/or benefits?
  • Digital identities hold different upbringings, subject matter knowledge, and emotional control, for this reason there can be negativity often present in forums, and other online public places where networks intertwine. On the flipside, people different from each other can exchange understandings if communication is kept respectful, and the individuals present are accepting of new ideas – this can bring emotional growth like empathy, and grow understandings/knowledge on the subject matter discussed.
  • LinkedIn themselves state that “Participating in conversations can allow [a user] to share [their] perspective on relevant issues and topics with others. [A user] can create or join LinkedIn Groups to connect and grow with members who share your interests, experiences, or aspirations.” (LinkedIn, 2022).

An example of a professional digital identity:

 My LinkedIn account:

• In this example, it’s evident that I’m trying to portray a professional identity – the language I use is the same I’d likely use on a resume. I speak of myself like a robot with different kinds of software/hardware, and often not as much my hobbies, pets, political views, family, etc. 
• I try my best to present myself in a very hirable way, and leave no “red flags” for hiring managers. I utilize the same kind of approach that would be used in a job interview.
• Since my LinkedIn activity is stored, and publicly viewable, it would likely be extremely unwise to comment controversial opinions, show unwarranted negativity to others on LinkedIn, and even share “off-topic” posts that would be acceptable for a personal digital identity – say my favorite brownie recipe! (Note:  there are professional identities that can definitely pull these kinds of posts off, but I’m generalizing!).

References

LinkedIn. (2022). “What is LinkedIn and How Can I Use It?”. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a548441/what-is-linkedin-and-how-can-i-use-it-?lang=en