Looking into someone else’s online profile and trying to distinguish them academically is one thing, but to reflect on your own online profiles and comparing them to your own academic life is harder. It is necessary to place yourself in someone else’s perspective when trying to do a true and full perspective of your own online identity. Having an online profile has its own positive effects just as it has its own disadvantages. Asserting my own assessment on the findings my personal social accounts, outsiders can see the similarities and differences of how my online identity can compare to my academic identity.
Reflection
As a person, I am an extreme extrovert; however online I show little of my personality. I understand that whatever I come to post online can have a later consequence on my life. As a person, I can only describe myself as a reliable, intelligent, outgoing, brutally honest person, and that when I see an opportunity I go for it. A viewer scrolling through my social accounts would not be able to see that as some of my character traits. Each social media account that I have, shows various perspectives of who I am socially and academically. As an academic, I do not part take in any academic extracurricular activities outside of my class time, I just work locally in the Town of Farmville and hang-out with my close friends with my free time. Inside the classroom, I do think of myself as a smart and achieved student at Longwood. I Regarding both how I am as a person and intellectually, I could do more to increase my online profiles, so viewers possible employers can have a real glimpse into who I am.
Having an online representation of yourself sometimes does and does not have a truthful reflection of who you are regarding your personality and academic identity. For the case of this assignment, I had to look deeply into how my own appearances online correlate to how my online appeal reflects my academic life. Looking at my online appearance and the public attachments that I put on my social medias; for example, my Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat account have a balance of similarities and differences of who I am as an academic.
On my Facebook profile, I find academic journal articles that mention different agendas including political statements, psychological studies, and other interesting forms of stating to the world that I am an intellectual. Even though I do post articles on Facebook to express some of my interests as an intellectual, I however post what is currently happening in my social life on my other three social networks; Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.
Viewing my Twitter, friends and fellow peers can see the some of the humorous side of who I am and not so much of how I am academically in school. For instance, if I came across a funny ‘meme’, ‘gif’, or any other type of media I will quote that tweet onto my account. Think of quote tweet as Twitter plagiarism. Twitter shows who I am personality wise, but not who I am academically. I enjoy Twitter more than any of my other social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat.
My Instagram and Snapchat usage in sort of a way correlate with one of another. On both accounts, I very seldom post anything on Instagram, but when I do post it regards to my social life at Longwood. On my Snapchat application, I post a balance of my academic life and my personal endeavors that I enjoy. For example, when I went hiking at Crab Tree Falls, I snapchatted my hike from start to finish. The hiking posts that I posted on Snapchat that day, showed who I truly am on a personality basis. An example where Snapchat expressed who I am academically would be when I was consumed with two 30-page papers for two different classes were due on the exact day.
Similarities and Differences of an Online Identity to Academic Identity
Some similarities that I found between myself as a person and academically was some of the posts I found when I graduated from high school and the post of winning scholarships. The online posts revealed to viewers of me just being who I was while doing the extracurricular activities that partook a long effect of my academic life today. For I am a member to the online world and being a student in real life, I found more differences than similarities when reflecting on who I am as a student and as an online member.
When I was reflecting on my online accounts, trying to associate some difference between my online and academic identity, I found more differences than similarities when assessing my online accounts. First, I found that I do not put enough information out for the outside world to see who I am as an academic nor as a person. I do however, as I stated before, post educational articles on my Facebook page. I do not however, put what I am doing with friends or family, so I seem to be a strict introvert on my profiles. Throughout the past four years I have slowly withdrawn from posting things about my everyday life at college. Through the similarities and differences between my online identity currently in relation to myself comes positives and negatives I could possibly face later in the future regarding to my professional identity.
Many writers have discussed the risks that social media has on people regarding to their personal and professional lives. Disadvantages of having an online presence while being true who you are academically and personality wise, can get people in trouble regardless if they deliberately or accidentally posted something online that could have a later consequence on their professional or personal life. Therefore, with having an online attendance of being yourself and showing who you are academically can have some future positives professionally and or personally. The power of having an online appearance has numerous affects and bonuses to someone’s life. Reflecting on how my social media profiles and academic life at Longwood comes to have no real correlation with one another.