After watching the documentary "Catfish" directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, we are now able to discuss some issues related to social networking and online identity.
What issues does this film raise about online identity?
Anyone can effectively create a fake persona online. There is a large amount of freedom and very little regulation of the content that we create, or the things that we say. The documentary addresses the dangers of getting too involved with an online relationship, especially when you've never met the other person in real life.
Do you think that social networks alter the values of authentic experience?
Much of an experience or relationship can be created on social networks, for example, the conversation element. Howevere, nothing can replace the real physical relationships and experiencing something first-hand. It is hard to distinguish a real person from a fake through text conversations, showing that we are far to easy to accept an indentity without a voice or a face.
Do you think social networks can affect the representation of individual identity?
The real identity and the online identity are two separate things. It is much easier to assume or add things to our online identity, which we also subconsciously do to get more attention of appear popular, as there is no regulation of our 'true' identity. We can use multiple social networks to be become a deeper, more rounded personality/presence online.
How do social networks encourage participatory culture?
Social networks work in a viral or participatory sense, meaning that family and friends online are all encouraged to respond to each others posts. This also leads to large, and very public community or shared personal information. Features such as statuses, suggested friends, comments, 'liking' and retweeting cause everyone to have knowledge of something. The freedom of this participatory culture is almost based on gossip or rumour.
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