“Online identity isn’t simply something you think long and hard about and then eventually ‘discover’ before making it; it’s something that you do and discover in the making.”
By Adam Brown
I have not given more thought about how I should act online, I have always been consistent online and in the real life, being very open and willing to share, until now. I do realize I act very differently across various social media platforms.
Looking back, my online identity changes from time to time. In fact, It seems that I have several online identities and I am not a two-faced person or anything like that. I start to wonder why.
How do I act online
When I got my very first Tencent QQ account at the age of 8, I was the last one in my primary school class. From then on, I became a big fan on chatting with my classmates and friends.
With the development of technology, it allows more data to be exchanged and stored online, people are not only using the internet for instant messager, post blogs, pictures, and videos. Also, new apps are popping up, here comes WeChat. WeChat is more like an upgraded version of QQ, which has become an essential app for everyone’s daily life. I have been using WeChat as my main instant message, social media, and online payment application for 11 years. WeChat is more like a private account because it needs permission to add friends to chat with people and see their posts. Although I am using WeChat as a private social media as I only interact with my relatives and close friends, I update very frequently, on average of 5 times a day.
From recently, I finally started using Twitter even though I have known this platform for decades. I start following my classmates, peers and celebrities. It is way different from WeChat and another other platform I have known. It is an open platform with more freedom to speak and express anything you want. I am not saying this is a better one. All the information is exposed to the public. I was hesitating whether to use my real name and avatar, not to even mention posting anything.
And why?
Audience
I guess the audience is the main reason why I act so different in different social platforms. Smith and Watson (2014) state that audiences are various from different intimacy, different responses and different purposes. I use WeChat to express my innermost thoughts to people that I care the most. I am pretty comfort to share my stuff with this particular audience. However, it is not complete that way. Because is audience include my family. I need to be considered all that time what my family would think of me if I posted something unproperable. I will not argue with someone if we have a difference of opinion about something. Also, I need to be positive all the time. In Twitter, because I would get different audience, I would not be worried about that. I could say anything, even criticize our chairman, which is illegal in Chinese social media.
In addition, I share most of my content in Chinese on WeChat, comparing I have to write in English as my classmates and peers are most likely not be able to read and understand Chinese.
Authenticity
While I am using social media for the past decades, I found that photo editing is the must have for posting photos online, for everyone. Not only photos, but also public account is like a highlight collection for a person. It shows all the best moments of that person.
I would only edit my photos until I edit them in the perfect way. In the past, I had a lot of acne problems that makes me feel inferior. These photo editing apps are my life saving at that time.
As discussed by Smith and Watson, authenticity online today is described as calculated authenticity, it is about stage management. They emphasize it more particularly as authenticity manufacture. In my opinion, the pursuit of perfection is a good sign in human progress.
Overall,
my online persona on different platforms is being complete different. It is the result of being online for over 20 years of experience. The study of online identity gives me a more comprehensive understanding of social media. I would continue being online and take advantages of this powerful tool in my study and career.
Reference
Adam Brown (25 July 2017) ‘Blogging Away: Making Media for a Competitive Advantage‘ DIGITAL ZONES, accessed 24 April 2022.
Smith S and Watson J 2014, ‘Virtually Me: A Toolbox about Online Self-Presentation’, in Poletti, A and Rak, J (eds.), Identity Technologies: Constructing the Self Online, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, pp. 70-95.
Dennis Chen Discovery 
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