How do social media change our understanding of individual identity, with regard to the kinds of people we have in our social networks?

Individual identity is a term explaining how people express themselves via social media. Whether it’s through their user name, images displayed, or customized profile, individuals are entitled to express themselves in whichever way they like. However, this freedom is not always such a good thing as it gives people to opportunity to pretend to be someone they are not. As our online environment becomes open and sharing, the dangers of social media become more prominent, threatening our safety and individuality.

Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” Social media allows people to communicate and share data just by the click of a button, which is not only easy but also affordable and extremely quick. However, social media is not all fun and games. Identity theft is a major issue among the virtual community and is a very easy thing to do. We share so much information via the Internet, more than we even realise as we overlook that Google never forgets. Just through a google search, one is able to find out family information, school, work history, birth dates and even worse, our credit card history and email address, which may lead to access of bank accounts.

Nowadays, it is often that people gain access to other’s credit cards after making an online purchase. By obtaining someone’s credit card details means they are able to spend thousands of dollars in purchases, leaving the credit card holder in a lot of debt for things they didn’t even buy. Another common form of identity theft occurs on social networking websites such as Facebook and Myspace. Users can create fake accounts, pretending to be somebody else either to conceal their own identity or humiliate another person. By putting up pictures of the person they are pretending to be and by adding their friends, users are lead to believe that this person is who they say they are. Online news site pc1news.com, is flooded with comments stating that they need help to get their fake Facebook profile deleted. With pleas for help, one lady even stated that it tearing her family apart, while another said that someone is sending obscene messages to a lady using her husband’s name.

This YouTube video explains how easy identity theft really is. Personal information can be accessed with the click of a button:

However, identity theft can sometimes be used more dangerously. When it comes to cyber-predators, or online paedophiles, they may use information of young children in attempt to lure in another young child, request for them to meet up and “hang out” with the intention of raping them, and in some cases murdering them. This video on 60 minutes reveals police catching cyber-predators who have been exposing themselves to young girls on the Internet, pretending to be someone else in order to get them to meet up with them.

http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1017294

According to Paul Bocij, a female at Iowa State University in 2001 hacked into her friend’s email account and was able to impersonate them; turning down a $200,000-a-year job they had been offered. She had been able to access the account because of her personal knowledge of the friend, therefore able to hack his passwords. Identity thieves rely on simple tactics to gather their information and these are called phishing and pharming. Phishing involves luring victims to a fake website using techniques such as sending out fake emails which seem like they are from a genuine company. These emails contain a web address for the recipients to access, offering them some sort of reward or benefit, or even pretending that there is a potential problem with, for example, their bank account. Pharming, on the other hand, redirects ones web browser to a fake website which is done via poisoning of local domain servers or malware such as Trojans and browser add-ons. Users are generally unaware that they are being redirected to another website as the address they typed in can remain visible.

Social media makes it difficult for us to have our own individual identity. Everything you post on the internet can be seen by almost anyone, therefore it is essential that you think before you post something on any website and to anyone. On social networking websites, ensure that your profile is set to private allowing only your friends to view your information. No one can be trusted on the Internet. It’s a dog eat dog world and everyone is hungry to make themselves look better and please their own desires, even if that means pretending to be someone else. Be mindful about the types of people you are talking to as it is very easy for people to put on an act and convince you of who they are but remember they are hidden behind a computer screen and that face you imagine to be theirs may be the complete opposite.

Our individual identity is in danger and the Internet provides nowhere for us to hide. Articles.winferno.com states that “one is eight Americans in the last 5 years has been affected by Internet identity theft” and as advancements in technology continue to proceed, the risk is only increasing. Information sent over unsecured transmission makes it so simple for identity thieves to steal our personal information, either using it against us or for their own benefit. Trouble-free ways to protect yourself from identity theft include deleting your web history, securing your accounts, empty your recycling bin, and be careful about who you share information with. Your individual identity makes you who you are and how you express yourself is unique, but the internet will continue to be an unsecure place and only you can prevent the risk of your individuality being taken from you.

Reference List

Bocij, Paul (2006) 'The Dark Side of the Internet', Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Finklea, Kristin M. (2009) 'Identity Theft: Trends and Issues', Library of Congress: Congressional Research Service

Hayward, Claudia L. (2004) 'Identity Theft', Novinka Books: New York

Sixty Minutes, channel nine, reported by Tara Brown, accessed 21-10-2010

http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1017294

Conclusion- Final Blog Entry

Overall, I found New Communication Technologies to be a very interesting and exciting course. By covering a wide range of topics, I was able to gain a further understanding into different communication devices, the internet and how it works, free software and various other topics. My favourite part of this course was the blogs. Prior to NCT, I had never used a blog before and the fact that our weekly assessments were to be posted in blog format instead of formally written and handed in on a sheet of paper made the course far more interesting (not to mention a whole lot easier!)

Week 9- Response to Lecture

Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life".The name is a blend of cyberneticsand punk and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk", published in 1983 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk).It is known for its gritty aesthetic nature and questionable morality and written about by people such as William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, John Shirley and Rudy Rucker.

Born 17 March, 1948, William Gibson completed a bachelor of english from the University of British Columbia and since then has written many things including multiple trilogies. His novel Neuromancer (1984) is his most well-renowned novel linked to cyberpunk. He emphasized style, a fascination with surfaces, and atmosphere over traditional science-fictiontropes(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk#Literature).

"Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body." – Lawrence Person

Week 9- Tutorial Task and Tutespark

Write about your chosen essay topic, your initial thoughts about this topic, and where you think you may begin researching it.

The topic I have chosen for the essay is question number five: "How do social media change our understanding of individual identity, with regard to the kinds of people we have in our social networks?"

Social media has become an everyday life necessity from Facebook to Myspace and even Twitter. Even though it may seem as though it is more a teenage/young adult trend, even the oldies are getting into it through their kids and grandchildren. Although social networking may seem like fun and games and a great way to stay in touch with old friends, it can be very dangerous as it is easy for users to conceal their real identity and pretend to be someone else which can sometimes lead to people being stalked, raped or abducted. People are able to easily find out intimate details of ones life just by a click of the mouse.

I believe this topic holds a lot of potential for me to write about and investigate into disastrous stories about misuse of social media. A while ago I saw a story on 60 minutes about a girl who had been chatting to a guy on a social networking site who was actually an elder man pretending to be a young, good looking teenager. As the girl became interested in this "guy", they planned to meet up only for her to be set up and brutally murdered by this man. It is sickening stories like these that need to be heard in order to protect the lives of common social networkers. It is so easy for people to pretend to be someone else behind a computer screen whether it's to get attention, make friends, impress someone or even convince them that you are someone you're not. The internet is a dangerous place and no one should be trusted!