There are three subcategories that I see when looking at my online identity from the outside in. A clear majority of what I post online is related to my family. My family is quite large, as I have 6 siblings, and we are all very close knit. We tend to take a lot of pictures when we are all together, whether at home or out somewhere for an event etc. and I often post these pictures on my social media to show extended family and to have as a memory. When it comes to my belief system, I am a very conservational and “green” person, and one would be able to pick up on this from my social media. Lastly, the smallest chunk of what I post is related to things I like to do or consume in my free time. It could be related to a show or movie I like, food I ate somewhere new, really anything. This is a way that someone could get to know a little bit about my personal interests. The three components of my social media accounts are my social identity, belief system and recreational hobbies.

When looking at my Facebook account one will see photos of not only my close family, which I mentioned is large, but also my extended family which is even larger. Facebook is a place where my family likes to share pictures and stay connected with what the rest is doing. An example of a post from my Facebook is “Had a great time tubing on the Shenandoah with the fam!” and with this post photos from the day are linked. The post also has the members tagged so that the photos will appear on their wall. The reason my Facebook is mostly made up of posts about my family is because that is who I chose to be friends with on Facebook. I see Facebook as a social media platform for older people, in other words, people older than me. I maintain a Facebook account, so I can access my older sister’s pictures of her toddler and see what her family is up to, among other activities. When writing on Facebook, because I know family will be reading it, I tend to write in complete sentences and use correct grammar. I also tailor my words and posts to be appropriate, as I know my grandmother is reading it. In this way, my Facebook identity also represents my academic identity.

By looking at my Twitter account it is clear that I care about recycling, conserving the Earth and the oceans, and living a vegetarian lifestyle. The things I retweet or favorite on Twitter show my thoughts on these things and also show my hobbies and interests. The online representation of myself reflects my academic identity because on both sides I am promoting helping the Earth and helping others. In my academics I focus on Special Education, which is also something I share a lot about on social media, whether it be an article or a picture of an activity I participated in relating to Special Education. When retweeting threads about ways to properly recycle I am doing so in hopes that the people I follow will see them and follow what they say. My Twitter personality is different from Facebook, partly because my Twitter friends are a completely different audience. I often retweet other people’s words because I like considering other points of view. My mom and older sister do not follow me on Twitter, neither do my grandparents or my aunt and uncle. This is a different audience and I have a different personality.

Instagram is my favorite way to share with friends and family the fun things I am doing. While on Facebook I will write about what I did with family, Instagram is usually more focused on fun activities. My Instagram is also made up of interesting foods I’ve eaten and travels I’ve taken. It’s more of a photo site and one doesn’t need to place a whole lot of captions because the pictures speak for themselves. I am a big picture taker, but again, this platform is different from Facebook because the audience seeing my pictures is different.

I enjoy having different online accounts because I’m a little bit different for each audience. If you visited one of my social media profiles you would not get the whole picture of who I am. I did that on purpose. I think it’s important to keep some things to yourself. In the future, if I want to create a blog or a professional teacher Instagram or Twitter, as it will be important for that professional person to be different from the real me. As for now, I believe each of my social media accounts are appropriate for who is reading them. Over the years since first acquiring online accounts, I have greatly slowed down my online posting and have become very particular about what I post. Being cautious of what you post is a good idea for everyone, as what you say online can really come back to get you. From looking at my different accounts you will see the parts of me that I want you to see, and not the parts I chose to keep private. My online identity and my academic identity are very similar to each other as I chose my words online and in person very carefully.

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