Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue: The Construction of Online Identity and Its Consequences

Abstract

This paper explores the construction of identity in online communities and websites for social purposes, and its consequences in terms of how one's online identity may be utilized to such an extent that one's real-world identity is either enforced or eroded. It does so by investigating the very nature of Identify, coming predominantly from a cultural studies research and philosophical view, although it also cites some parallel findings in Information Systems IS research. In the Section Something Old, the author investigates the concept of identity in the real world, then investigates it in the online world in the Section Something New. Section Something Borrowed examines how an individual positions oneself including who one associates with and why one flags it so to others. And finally this paper looks at some consequences unfolding in our time in Section: Something Blue, citing several pointed examples for illustration purposes, where values that have been migrated from the real world are amplified via the Internet, causing all sorts of actions and consequences both online and offline. These issues and actions revolve around control and disclosure of ones identity that has consequences upon reputation and trust, and how responsibility needs to be brought forward into how one: positions oneself, manages ones own identity, and acts appropriately in and beyond the Internet. Above all of these, the author concludes, is the responsibility of understanding the nature of identity itself.