Online Identities - Real or Fake?

Online identities can be a complex topic. Especially when it comes to an authentic online identity. This cam be split up into two parts. One being that someone's identity on a social media, such as Facebook, could be completely fake. This means that person is not who they are and are pretending to be someone else. An example of this could be someone pretending to be a celebrity by adding in photos of that specific celeb. Their intentions could be to hurt that celebrity's reputation, or just because they have nothing better to do. The second part is people making their life on social media something that it isn't. For instance, someone could have an entire album of photos on Facebook showing how much fun they have, but in reality they may not be happy at all. They just want people to think they are happy through their photos and posts. It's kind of like putting a mask on, showing people what you want to see not what it actually is.

It can be very difficult to determine if someone's online identity is true or not. There's no real way to tell if a certain social media page is real or fake. Whenever I'm asked for a friend request on any of my social media outlets, I always make sure they are authentic. I pretend I'm a spy and do a little creeping on their page. I'll immediately look to see if we have any mutual friends, if there is no more than ten mutual friends, that's automatic delete. If we have more than ten mutual friends, I'll creep a little deeper into their page. I then begin to look through their posts and pictures. If I don't like what I see, whether it be inappropriate posts, rude posts, or just out of the ordinary posts, that's a deleted request right then and there. If that person can pass those test, I will accept their request.

It's all about what you believe in. If you have a gut feeling that someone online is not who they say they are, do a little research into their page or just automatically ignore them. There are so many people out in the online realm that have nothing better to do than to make fake online identities. Always be careful who you let into your online identity.

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