‘The Internet is a phenomenon that influences, shapes and fills many spheres of our life. It can be thought as a new global trend that has steadily risen in popularity, growing from about 90,000 daily users in 1993 to more than 605 million in 2002’. (Zappala & Gray, 2006, p.179)

In this information age; almost every household in Australia owns a computer and has access to the Internet. It has become part of everyone’s life because users can do almost everything from listening to the radio to communicating online. As the Internet is changing and improving every day, Web 2.0 allows people to publish, edit, read and share information on the web. This means that participation through collaboration is highly encouraged on the Internet. Web communication is very important because it allow users to contribute or seek for information instantly. With this, they can interact with each other through social networking sites, blogs and chat rooms. Before Tim Berners-Lee invented the Internet, people live a digital free life where they spend most of their leisure time with their family. Information takes days or even months to reach the destination and people rely on traditional media to receive information and news. However, the emergence of the Internet allows many possibilities for users to communicate and collaborate with each other anywhere and anytime. According to Levine and Moreland, ‘the emergence of the Internet has enabled the exploration of aspects of one’s identity that formerly had to remain hidden because of societal disapproval’. (Levine & Moreland, 2006, p.76). What they meant was that the Internet benefits people who are treated differently in the real world by allowing them to create their online identity which is different from their offline identity. In order to communicate online, users have to create an online identity so that other users know their presence on the Internet. This leads me to the main point of this paper where I am going to argue about the importance of online identity and the dangers of it.

According to Crawford, Identity is ‘defined as ‘a group project: Something created by the context in which the identified operates’. (Crawford, 2004, p. 212) Online Identity is shaped by the footsteps made on the Internet where actions such as commenting or uploading pictures on the web define users’ identity. To have an identity online, users have to ‘create a character or several characters; you specify their genders and other physical and psychological attributes’. (Turkle, 1997, p.73) This means that they have to type in their own information such as date of birth and country of residence on a web page. As stated earlier, online communication is very important in Web 2.0 because it enables users to share their knowledge with other users. Matt Rhodes argues in his article,

‘Online communities are very different; they are about ‘us’ – a shared experience, aim, theme or topic. It is not your profile that counts, but your  ideas, thoughts and contributions. These are less easy to hide behind an identity that may not be completely true’. (Rhodes, 2009)

For instance, Wikipedia allows users to edit and add information on any page and when other users read the edited page; they gain knowledge from all the collaboration from other users disregarding who the editors are because everyone who has knowledge on an issue can contribute on Wikipedia. In the offline world, people identify each other by names and appearances so that their identity is not mistaken. This situation is similar to the online world as users identify each other by their online identity such as username and interest. As Donath stated in her article, ‘The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter’. (Donath, 1996, p.1). Web communication is very different to face-to-face communication because it uses words to communicate and some find it difficult to understand a user by reading what they wrote without knowing their tone of voice and habits. Hence, online identity is essential to every user for ‘assessing the reliability of information and the trustworthiness of a confidant… Knowing the identity of those with whom you communicate is essential for understanding and evaluating an interaction’.  (Donath, 1996, p.1) Since everyone can contribute on the Internet, there will be too much information online. However, with the presence of identity, users are able to identify the credibility of all the information which imposes trust from readers to the publishers as they know that the information supplied is reliable. Thus, online identity plays an important role on the Internet.

Additionally, if users get to know the writer’s identity, it makes them feel safer and comfortable when reading an advice given by them. One of the pitfalls of online identity is that not all users are honest with their identity and hence provide misinformation on a certain subject. They claim that they are smart and experienced and make other users trust them by communicating in a professional tone of voice. There is hundreds of health website on the Internet and studies found that some of the medical information provided is wrong and could cause death. As discussed by Mintz (2002),

‘Some of the claims of efficacy for treatments have not been proven, and some may even be dangerous…Many of these sites do not present balanced views of the issues, choosing instead to promote their agendas to a sometimes gullible readership.’

To avoid this situation, users have to be smart when they are reading information online. The easiest way to identify the reliability of the information is to look for the publisher’s background. If the publisher does not have a qualification or experience about the subject, it is best to dismiss it rather than believing it. According to Donath, ‘the writer’s identity- in particular, claims of real- world expertise or history of accurate online contributions- plays an important role in judging the veracity of an article’. (Donath, 1996, p.2) When the publisher’s identity is verified to be someone professional or experienced in the field they are in, readers will feel safe when reading their article and they can share it with other users who face the same problems as them. Moreover, users can identify the reliability of information by reading feedbacks or comments from other readers. In an online group, members identify other members by reading feedbacks and comments that were collected throughout the years so that new members will not feel strange and scared when communicating with each other.  According to Dellarocas,

‘Online reputation mechanisms allow members of a community to submit their opinions regarding other members of that community. Submitted feedback is analysed, aggregated with feedback posted by other members and made   publicly available to the community in the form of member feedback profiles’. (Dellarocas, 2002)

All these comments are very important as they allow users to identify each other and create trust within the group.

However, one of the problems that surfaced in the online world is the dangers of revealing user’s identity online. When a user typed in his/her information online, it will be there forever. Social networking sites such as Friendster, MySpace, Facebook and Hi5 contains thousands of profile filled with users’ information. All these profiles are ‘publicly articulated, profiles are publicly viewed, and comments are publicly visible’ (boyd, d, 2007, p.7) unless users made their profile private. Phyllis defined social networking sites as ‘an online service that focuses on the building of social networks for people who share a common interest, lifestyle, and/or activity’. (Phyllis, n.d.)  Social networking sites such as MySpace which has high amount of publicly viewed profiles attract stalkers which already made several headlines in the news. Kreiser, a journalist from CBS evening news reported that

‘In New Jersey, Majalie Cajuste is grieving the murder of her daughter Judy. The 14-year-old reportedly told friends she met a man in his 20s through MySpace.com’. (Kreiser, 2006) Parents and guardians are worried about their children because they do not know what will happen to them through social networking sites. This situation will not only happen in social networking sites but also in Newsgroups and Chat rooms. Stalkers either provide false information about themselves such as stating that they are female rather than male; or using anonymous as their identity to make other users believe that all the information written are true and real. As Judith stated, ‘A man creates a female identity; a high school student claims to be an expert on viruses’. (Donath, 1996, p.1) False information not only imposes great danger on today’s society but also sparks worries to online users. As William argues, ‘the problem is you can’t see the mask if they are wearing one online, you can in the physical world’. (Williams, 2009). As stated earlier, online communication is different from face to face communication; hence, no one knows whether the information on a profile page is worth trusting. This is supported by boyd where she argued that

‘People have more control online- they are able to carefully choose what information to put forward, thereby eliminating visceral reactions that might  have seeped out in everyday communication’. (boyd, 2007, p.12)

In the real world, people cannot hide their real identity; but the virtual world relies on information posted on the internet to shape every user’s identity. Also, false identity can be misused. Kreiser reported that

‘We assumed her online identity and started chatting with this guy,” Krieser explains. “During that point, he made it very clear he wanted to meet her for sex. We were able to find another 14-year-old female that he’s actually had sex with’. (Kreiser, John, 2006)

As stated before, Web 2.0 sites have a rich interactive interface which emphasise on communication, collaboration and information sharing where everyone with an opinion can publish anything on the Internet. The amount of teenagers communicating and keying personal information on the Internet is increasing daily. Misusing online identity not only creates a barrier but also imposes great danger to users. A study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project concluded that

‘Approximately 13 million American teenagers who use the Net, 74 percent use instant messaging. Surprisingly, one-fifth of the teens using IM say it is their primary means of communicating with friends. The study extrapolated the results from a survey of 754 youngsters between the ages of 12 and 17 and their parents’.

Cyber stalking is a serious issue and users should think twice when typing information into the web because no one knows who will be reading their profile page.

Thus online identity is very important in Web 2.0 because it allow users to identify each other and share information by communicating efficiently. When a user is used to communicate with the same other user, they will trust each other and hence, improve their communicating skills. I also stated that online identity is crucial because it enable users to receive credible information about a topic which interests them rather than receiving false information. Online identity also makes user comfortable and safe when communicating verbally online. Towards the end of the essay, I pinpointed on issues that surround online identity which is cyber stalking. As the Internet is evolving every day, it is best to know and understand which actions are right and wrong so that the Internet can be a safer place to share information and communicate.