Narrating Me - Both of Me

In my New Media lecture last Friday, I was presented with the following quote:

“Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity”
Mark Zuckerberg, cited in Kirkpatrick (2010)

I fundamentally disagree with Zuckerberg on this point.

My own online presence as it has expanded has grown, naturally, into two distinct online identities: the flippant, unguarded self I reveal to my already known contacts on Facebook, and the more carefully narrated, “worldy” and heavily stylised self I share with the unknown audiences of Twitter and the blogosphere.

Both are cultivated from the essence of my identity, but they present a different version, for a different purpose, and in the hope of resonating with a different audience.

Inconsistent? Yes. But lacking integrity? Definitely not.

Dueze (2011) says that “the potential power of people to shape their lives and identities can be found in the assumption that people produce themselves in media.” I agree with this assumption, and believe the online universe affords people the opportunity to explore who they are, who they want to be, and to narrate themselves as the person or persons they would like to be if only there was an edit button in the “real world”.

While Zuckerberg might consider multiple online identities as a show of weakness, I see it as a fantastic opportunity for self-realisation.

References

Dueze, Mark. 2011. Media Life. Media, Culture & Society 33(137).

Kirkpatrick, David. 2010. The Facebook Effect: the Inside Story of the Company that is Connecting the World. New York: Simon & Schuster.