Shock！ Construction of Identity in a digital world can still be used in this way!？

As a medium for online social activity, identification is critical in social networks. A virtual identity in social networks is a digital image that depicts a user’s identity, attributes, and relationships. It is constructed and portrayed in such a manner that it not only reflects an individual’s social requirements and self-presentation but is also intimately related to online social conduct. Personal and background information contributed by users is the foundation of virtual identity shaping and presentation in social networks, providing the required information to facilitate user shaping and presentation.

People join social networking sites because it gives them an opportunity to express their views, a feel of independency and self esteem. ( Das, B., & Sahoo, J. S., 2011). Users can utilise the profile editing option on social networking sites to fill in their personal information, hobbies and interests, and vocational histories to highlight their qualities and identities. Users may offer the image they wish to portray to others by constructing and updating their profiles.

Dating apps have increased in popularity in recent years. In comparison to dating websites, dating apps ask users to provide limited information for potential matches, namely, a number of photos and an optional small amount of text (Blackwell et al., Citation2015; Gudelunas, Citation2012), where people use their carefully crafted avatars to achieve the effect of making friends on social software. Chatting and dating software has the characteristics of equality, anonymity, time and space, openness, diversity and convenience. When people use chat dating software to communicate and interact with each other, they can play various types of roles according to their own preferences, and at the same time, they don’t need to disclose their real identity information, which can get rid of secular conflicts and reduce the constraints of communication and exchange.

Users can acquire feedback and assessments of their virtual identities from others through social interactions, impacting their online social conduct.
By fine-tuning and optimising their virtual identity expression, they may get more efficient and precise outcomes. Social engagement not only broadens a user’s social network, but it may also have a significant impact on their social influence and ability to disseminate information.
Individuals’ virtual identities and online social behaviours are influenced by their social identities and sense of group belonging, where social identity refers to an individual’s identification with and sense of belonging to the social group in which he or she lives and group influence refers to the impact of the group’s values, behavioural norms, and social expectations on the individual.

All of these judgements regarding digital identification are valid, but a simple and accessible description of what defines digital identity is lacking.
Humans, on the other hand, require concepts and labels. It is hard to distinguish which problems are genuinely “digital identity” concerns or to judge the extent to which new solutions and technology may solve them without precise assertions and definitions.

Reference

Das, B., & Sahoo, J. S. (2011). Social networking sites–a critical analysis of its impact on personal and social life. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(14), 222-228.

Blackwell, C., Birnholtz, J., & Abbott, C. (2015). Seeing and being seen: Co-situation and impression formation using Grindr, a location-aware gay dating app. New Media & Society, 17(7), 1117–1136. doi: 10.1177/1461444814521595