Digital Identity in America

Digital Identities such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and Bebo have taken over America with a recent study showing that 79% of American Adults are online http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-america-identity_b12613 One of the most interesting things about social media is that these sites allow you to create your identity. For example with twitter you are allowed to write a few words about yourself for other people to see. However what you write is down to you and there is now way of finding out if someone is lying or not. The same goes with other social netoworking sites. With the site Tumblr you can post pictures or statements that mean something to you, however again it's hard to know whether people are really posting things that they are passionate about or if they are posting certain pictures to create a certain image or identity amongst the Tumblr community.
In a way the online social network allows some people to create a new identity if they are disliked or unkown. With sites such as Twitter you can easily use a fake picture and pretend its you. It is also very easy to become well known and loved on Twitter. If you were to join a band's following for example such as One Direction and you were to mention them somewhere in your description you could easily gain hundreds of followers, therefore your real identity is easily hidden in place for whoever or whatever you want to be.
I think people online either want to be loved or hated. Some people create twitter accounts just to write nasty comments and intrude on people's lives. However others, like I explained above will join a certain community to try and fit in and feel loved because it is very easy to do.

However, with sites such as Youtube, you are able to show a positive side of your identity with a certain talent you have that you may want to share. The most famous example being Justin Bieber who started by posting videos of him singing. Youtube allows people, no matter who they are, to represent themeselves for who they actually are and although many receive hate, I like the fact they are on video and therefore can't really hide their identity unlike the majority of other social sites.
People who 'put themselves out there' online are always going to have to be prepared for people giving their opinion about certain things they may say or do. People on these sites are in a sense very vulnerable as people have access to what they write or do and many people will receive unwanted comments or people 'trolling'.