Abstract:
Identity has changed with the emergence of social networking websites. Previously it was understood identity was singular like the body but that assumption has since changed over time with the development of social networking websites and online communities which have penetrated people’s lives in significant ways. Although Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been vocal for the “real name” movement online, he and his organization has little knowledge and a complete misunderstanding on his behalf on what both privacy is and how identity is portrayed both online and offline. There are also multiple reasons behind anonymity and using pseudonyms within online communities; people can feel less safe by using their “real” name and it can control their engagement on Facebook and other platforms and Women in roller derby actively make use of different virtual spaces to create different ways of seeing, feeling and exploring identity through pseudonyms.

Tags: Facebook, identity, anonymity, pseudonyms, online communities, roller derby

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Introduction

Identity has changed with the emergence of social networking websites, the previous norm has always mentioned identity as one, like the body. Donath (1996) has previously mentioned this by stating “The norm is: one body, one identity. Though the self may be complex and mutable over time and circumstance, the body provides a stabilizing anchor”. The concept of identity and communication virtually has also been discussed, previously advising a community can only exist if there are clear identities associated within it, with identity comes the assumption of knowing the other user(s). An individual believing he/she know the others plays a key role in motivating users to participate online. For example, a user might be more inclined to help someone online with a problem they may be facing if an identity has been established and both parties believe they know who they are communicating with. The big question is: why help an unknown person? According to Donath (1996) no one knows who they are communicating with in an online environment, your gender, name, appearing and age can be kept secret through anonymity and pseudonyms. The concept of identity is fluid and changes as the individual encounters various online and offline situation. “It can be understood that the self is merely the mask one chooses to wear in a given situation – the mask is donned when an actor interacts with others online (Bullingham and Vasconcelos, 2013, p.2)”. The audience must accept that different situations connotes a different version of one’s self. Below will discuss the notion that a community can still exist when its users hide a portion of their identity through pseudonyms and anonymity, connections can still be made and hold importance. There are different reasons for why individuals may suppress their identity online and these communities are able to survive as the users have a shared understanding on what belonging to the group means. According to Kim, Lee and Lee (2019) identification within a group is still an individual activity but these online communities work because there is a shared understanding of the group meaning and expectations, these traits are then incorporated into a user’s self. Social networking websites have helped generate online communities and fluid identities. By focusing on Facebook communities, minority groups and their identity decisions, and the women’s roller derby community it will be discussed how anonymity and pseudonyms do not always equate to identity deception or anti-social behaviours. 

Facebook and Identity construction

Social networking websites have been incredibly popular within the early 21^st century, becoming a common destination for the young and old. Boyd (2007) describes how users are publicly communicating online, sharing their personal information, writing extensive comments and creating elaborate profiles. Whilst we have seen the rise and fall of Myspace which was first released back in 2003, Goodings (2012) makes mention that by 2011 the social networking site was officially dead due to the amount of web traffic it was receiving. It was believed Myspace succumbed to the other and similar social networking websites. Although Myspace was unsuccessful, the uniqueness of its features like customising your profile has provided a “long-lasting insights into identity formation, status negotiation, and peer-to-peer sociality (Boyd, 2007)”. Facebook become the dominant social networking website after the fall of Myspace, according to Kasket (2012) there was a staggering 750million people logging in at least once a day in 2012. This new platform has evolved into an extension of the human body by opening new possibilities of communication in an online environment. The identity conveyed on Facebook is not static, it is fluid and changes based on an active profile. Kasket (2012) discusses how the sense of a fluid identity can lead to a multidimensional representation of the online self from their relationships and communication. As we enter 2019 individuals have been given an extensive range of spaces to share and creatively engage in their identity and self-presentation. Mascheroni, Vincent & Jimenez (2015) discuss how social networking sites are now accessible within peoples everyday life, allowing them to communicate full time which in turn helps establish their own identity (pp.2-3).when communicating online a user must always remember someone else is constructing the persona being presented that has been facilitated by the platform being used, it is not a representation of one’s offline self, Bullingham and Vasconcelos (2013) make mention of how people highlight aspects of their personality online, it is never a repeat of their offline identity.

Anonymity and Pseudonyms

The discussions of anonymity within a virtual, social networking environment are predominantly negative. Before Web 2.0 there were text-based chat rooms and discussion boards with no requirements to disclose your identity, this lead to a large amount of communication online being anonymous. There has been some debate that “anonymous communication leads to deception (Donath, 1998), a lack of accountability (Papacharissi, 2002), and anti-social behaviours such as flaming, trolling, and cyberbullying (Sharon & John, 2018, p. 4179)”. Kim, Lee and Lee (2019) has a similar understanding of anonymity, they discuss how it is a form of information privacy but it also allows negative behaviours through hate speech to flourish online.  It is believed that a community cannot exist without identity as information is not reliable or truthful unless someone is concerned with their identity and reputation. According to Donath (1996) identity and reputation is essential to the construction of a community.

There is an ongoing discussion on if people need to embrace a “real name” internet or if there is any value on identities being flexible and users using pseudonyms and anonymity. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been vocal for the “real name” movement online. Van Der Nagel & Frith (2015) discuss how Zuckerberg and his sister have openly claimed that anyone with more than one identity online has a lack of integrity as well as anonymity should be abolished as anti-social behaviours is a product of it. “Facebook explicitly states in its user policies that people are expected to have one identity (Facebook, 2013), and use legal names and photographs of their own body in their profile (Van Der Nagel & Frith, 2015)”. These comments ultimately reflect Zuckerberg’s view that identity is singular, not fluid and authenticity equals complete openness. There is a complete misunderstanding on his behalf on what both privacy is and how identity is portrayed both online and offline.

In 2014 Facebook encountered backlash for its understanding and actions on identity when the platform shut down the accounts of drag queens and transgender individuals for not using their “real” name. According to Van Der Nagel & Frith (2015) a hashtag #mynameis was generated and circulated on Facebook with an info-graphic to protest and share reasons of why they wanted to use an alias, majority of the reasons were due to safety as people were experiencing harassment, being stalked online, or were sex workers or whistleblowers. There are also multiple reasons behind anonymity and using pseudonyms online; people can feel less safe by using their “real” name and it can control their engagement on Facebook and other platforms, examples are youth determining their sexuality but feel restricted in their offline community, teachers who want to separate their professional and social lives, individuals who want to participate in niche communities without their Facebook friends knowing, and individuals who may share controversial political opinions which they don’t want publicly shared in case it impacts their career. “In effect, pseudonyms and online anonymity can provide people with the safety and security to manage issues of context collapse online (Van Der Nagel & Frith, 2015)”. The ability to interact online using different identities is similar to a typical offline life. People are able to present themselves differently based off the group of people they are communicating with at the time. Identity does not need to be a major factor of communities existing. Ganster and Schumacher (2008) discuss how Facebook groups are created through shared interests, from hobbies, political views, career aspirations, and sporting activities. 

Women’s Roller Derby  
Women’s roller derby has been a successful activity and community in localised areas. It was first introduced “during the depths of the Great Depression, when Chicago impresario Leo Seltzer introduced women and violence into the sport, earning brief but roaring success (Fagundes, 2012, p, 1099)”. Since the beginning of the 21^st century and the emergence of social networking websites, its popularity has sky rocketed. It has been reinvented in the contemporary era of new digital technologies. This ‘digital’ context has profoundly shaped its cultural forms of play, spectating and fandom in a global context. Fagundes (2012, p.1100) discusses how the women only sport has grown from just a handful of leagues in 2003 to over 440 leagues in 2009 scattered through a variety of countries from North America, Europe, and Australia. With the help of digital technologies and social networking websites, there are now local and globalised communities consisting of players, coaches, referees, officials and fans. According to Pavlidis and Fullagar (2012) although online communities are not unique to roller derby, digital communication technologies have allowed for individuals to communicate due to their similar interest in the sport.
 

Women’s roller derby is a popular sport which incorporates athleticism, hard hits with a rock-and-roll show. Fagundes (2012, p. 1097) writes how the most recognisable feature within the sport is that the league members do not skate or communicate online under their real name, a pseudonym is almost always used instead when describing themselves and others in the sport. As roller derby has both that offline and online aspect and communication Bullingham and Vasconcelos (2013) explain how it is a good example of a fluid identity, where the online and offline self work together to create a new self which is shared in both circumstances. Roller Derby members would prefer to use pseudonyms to communicate, does not mean they are hiding their true identity due to anti-social behaviours, which has been described as “often in the context of either large-scale political protests, or hacking, trolling, deceiving, or abusing others on the Internet through inflammatory posts (Van Der Nagel & Frith, 2015)”. Using pseudonyms and being anonymous online can provide a strong sense of individual identity, as Fagundes (2012, p. 1101) mentions “becoming part of the derby world often involves inventing a new persona both to reveal to the public in bouts and to use in the derby world”. Some skaters use their derby name as an identity concealing mechanism to separate ones “derby persona from her real-life identity, obscuring the latter from derby fans and the world more generally (Fagundes 2012, p, 1105)”. As roller derby is an extracurricular activity some individuals want to separate the rock-and-roll sport with their professional career, pretend names can make it difficult for the skater to be tracked down in real-life by overzealous fans. Fagundes (2012, pp. 1105-1106) also mentions how these new pseudonym names help develop an identity which cannot always be expressed in a daily life and in an environment contrasted on the everyday grind of life. As well as Pavlidis and Fulllagar (2012) expressing how these pseudonyms are helped to empower women to challenge the traditional female gender norms, femininity, and fragility. There are typically three components to a roller derby name, most have a first and last name construction, it connects within the derby community with tough and menacing adjectives, and it helps create the identity of the skater. There is a wide variety of names but some “may refer to great actresses (Grace Killy, Sophia LoRenegade), not-so-great actresses (Gori Spelling), or miscreant heiresses (Paris Killton). Pseudonyms invoke ancient art (Venus de Maul’r) and pop culture (Killo Kitty) alike. (Fagundes, 2012, p. 1103)”. Some individuals lean into this new identity through their roller derby name that it can appear as their name or maiden name on social networking websites like Facebook, they are addressed by this name in online and offline communications, team mates may not find out their “real” name or months or years.  

New digital technology and social networking websites have helped women feel supported through the sport of roller derby by allowing “quickly and efficiently communicate with one another, forming virtual and embodied communities spanning most of the developed world (Pavlidis & Fullagar, 2012, p. 679)”. Facebook is an important form of communication and community formation as users are able to share a collective of identities which are produced and negotiated. The culture and community encouraged “women to participate through an ongoing negotiation of the individual and collective identity of sport that is at once real and virtual, about art and active embodiment, and troubles an easy identification with masculine or feminine norms (Pavlidis,  Fullagar, 2012, p. 683)”. Roller derby, although a sport; the growth of it virtual, community and the creative aspect can provoke women to negotiate an individual and collective identity through real and virtual conditions, and opens up a space to play with gender identity which in turn challenges the usually normal identification with feminine and masculine norms. Women coming together as a community with a share interest are inviting a different forms of identification where they articulate the trope of women’s empowerment. Becker (2018, p. 18) has debated how roller derby has helped create a new social movement of feminism, resistance, power, and cultural change within the male dominated foundation of sport, challenging normative ideals about sex, gender and sport. No matter how popular roller derby may become, it is still a vital space for women in sport to play around with their identity, ways of being athletic, sexy, powerful, violent, entertaining and most importantly united as a shared community and identity formation. “Derby supplies a space for self-discovery and self-expression as well as a fun extracurricular activity. A skate name is often the central vehicle by which this self-expression is effected (Fagundes, 2012, p 1106)”. Due to the abundance of niche identity construction and communication sometimes these communities can be viewed as tight knit subcultural groups “spectacular, subversive and resistant to dominant modes of behaviours (Pavlidis & Fullagar, 2012, p. 678)”. The virtual environment has played a significant role in reinventing roller derby, cross cultural communities and identities. Being a roller derby girl is not a static subject as “they actively make use of different virtual spaces to create different ways of seeing, feeling and exploring identity (Pavlidis & Fullagar, 2012, p 684)”. A sense of community is still assessable even though skaters identify through derby names and pseudonyms, these names are intimately bound with the sense of community the sport provides. Picking a roller derby name has become an important aspect of the sport and it helped users feel secure to participate freely online without any offline repercussions from their professional life.

Conclusion

It has been discussed that the popularity of social networking websites, Facebook in particular has helped individuals create and engage with self-presentation and identity, although it is just a part of themselves they wish to highlight to the virtual world.  It is important to understand identity is shaped through the platform the individual may be using as well, “Social conventions and codes of self-presentation shared within peer cultures are also enabled and shaped by the design of the platform (Mascheroni, Vincent & Jimenez, 2015, p 3)”. Social networking websites as DeAndrea and Walther (2011) describe have encouraged the online communication of self-presentation and identity, these formations are ever changing with new communication technology. Identity is a role people play depending on the audience and community. Anonymity is not a simple term between being complete recognisable or hidden, but more a range which better represents the different shades of identification available online. Women involved in roller derby hide their identity and “real” name through pseudonyms online, which allows them to share a collective of identities which challenge normal gender roles and feminine fragility. There is no denying some individuals undertake bad behaviour when hiding their identity “from the pseudo-naive trolls to the name-switching spammers. (Donath, 1996)” but as this paper discusses; not everyone within a virtual world is aiming to be deceptive if they hide their identity.

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