Iris29 Feature

A media awareness survey conducted in 2005 titled “Young Canadians in a Wired World” discovered that the majority (57%) of kids ranging from grades 7–11 admitted that they assume different identities online. Kids are motivated to lie about their online identities because it gives them the freedom to experiment with different social roles. On the Internet, you can be any age or gender. By having the control to manipulate these characteristics online, kids have a chance to see what it’s like to be in someone else’s shoes. The survey also found that 50% of respondents who admitted to changing their identity online said that experimenting with being someone else, age, and flirting were the reasons for changing their online identities.

how do u control ur online identity?

Survey participation found how often respondents presented false attributes:

• 34% pretended to have just one false attribute
• 38% pretended to have either two or three false attributes
• 28% pretended to have between three and seven false attributes.

In the article “MySpace, Facebook; A Tale of Two Cultures” Maha Atal says that there is a critical distinction between MySpace and Facebook users and how they present themselves. She states that because of the way Mark Zuckerberg, (an undergraduate of Harvard University), created Facebook, users require a post-secondary e-mail to be able to sign up for an account; therefore, “...users stuck more closely to their real identities and their online behaviour, in terms of manners and expectations, tended to mirror their offline behaviour.” Facebook is now open to the general public, but the tradition and essence of portraying more of one’s true self still holds true. Atal quotes Jason Hirschhorn, President of Sling Media Entertainment Group, formerly head of MTV digital media: “On Facebook, you really have to be who you are, so it’s more controlled and polite.”

On the other hand, MySpace has a reputation for having more freedom to portray oneself in any way imaginable.

Atal says “…there is an understood degree of fantasy involved. Users reveal who they want to be, through their interests in music or movies, but people aren’t always who they say they are.” MySpace is considered a creative way to express yourself and promote the things you like, whereas Facebook has a given profile layout; you can choose certain things that you want to share, but there isn’t much room for the customization that MySpace provides. Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine.com says, “Facebook brings elegant organization to real identities and communities people already have. MySpace is a gussied-up personal web page, and it’s about new publishing forms and mediums.”

Facebook

Founder: Mark Zuckerberg,
Founded: February 4, 2004 in Cambridge, MA.
Active Users: 49 Million
New Users per day: 200,000
Features: The Wall, Status, Pokes, Events, and other Applications.
URL: http://www.facebook.com

MySpace

Founder: Thomas Anderson & Christopher DeWolfe
Founded: August 2003
Active Users: 200 million
New Users per day: 230,000
Features: Blurbs,Blogs,Music, Profile Customization.
URL: http://www.myspace.com

Sources

Business Week Online, “MySpace, Facebook: A Tale of Two Cultures” by Maha Atal.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/ (accessed October 21, 2007)

Erin Research Inc., “Young Canadians in a Wired World, Phase II” November 2005.

http://www.media-awareness.ca/ (accessed October 21, 2007)