Online identity management

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Online identity management (OIM), also known as online image management, online personal branding, or personal reputation management (PRM), is a set of methods for generating a distinguished web presence of a person on the Internet. Online identity management also refers to identity exposure and identity disclosure, and has particularly developed in the management on online identity in social network services or online dating services. [1] [2]

Contents

Aspects

One aspect of the online identity management process has to do with improving the quantity and quality of traffic to sites that have content related to a person. In that aspect, OIM is a part of another discipline called search engine optimization with the difference that the only keyword is the person's name, and the optimization object is not necessary a single web site; it can consider a set of completely different sites that contain positive online references. The objective in this case is to get high rankings for as many sites as possible when someone search for a person's name. If the search engine used is Google, this action is called "to google someone". [3]

Another aspect has to do with impression management, i.e. "the process through which people try to control the impressions other people form of them". One of the objectives, in particular, is to increase the online reputation of the person.

Pseudonyms are sometimes used to protect the true online identity of individuals from harm. This can be the case when presenting unpopular views or dissenting opinion online in a way that will not affect the true identity of the author. Facebook estimates that up to 11.2% of accounts are fake. [4] Many of these profiles are used as logins to protect the true identity of online authors.[ citation needed ]

An individual's presence could be reflected in any kind of content that refers to that person, including news, participation in blogs and forums, personal web sites, [5] social media presence, pictures, video, etc. Because of that, online identity management often involves participation in social media sites like Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Last.fm, Myspace, Quora, Tumblr, Pinterest and other online communities and community websites, and is related to blogging, blog social networks like MyBlogLog and blog search engines like Technorati.

OIM can serve specific purposes such as a professional networking platform. OSN platforms represent who the user is and what attributes they bring to the world. The information a user can plug into their profile is usually not verified, which can lead to specifics forms of false identity. [6] OIM can also consist in more questionable practices such as the case of buying "likes", "friends", or "subscribers". [7]

Objective

The Objective of Online Identity Management is to:

  1. Maximize the appearances of positive online references about a specific person, targeting not only to users that actively search for that person on any search engine, but also to those that eventually can reach a person's reference while browsing the web.
  2. Build an online identity in case the person's web presence is minimal or nonexistent.
  3. Solve online reputation problems. In this case, the process can also be named online reputation management. [8]
  4. To express opinions that may be unheard, if the person's reputation was not previously favored.

Online Identity management can be utilized on a personal and professional level. Online identity management utilizes web presence to gain attention from potential huge clients to followers. A person managing online identity will use social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram Youtube, Snapchat, and networking sites to increase their online activity. They also use other tools like search engine optimization and advertisements to boost their audience and gain insights on their audience. Online Identity Management is most effective with the use of all social networking sites and posting frequently. This technique is used to target their audience and to make sure their audience does not miss any content. Additionally, Online Identity Management can be used to manipulate followers, viewers, and clients by using misleading or over-exaggerated information. [9]

Motivation

The reason why someone would be interested in doing online identity management is closely related to the increasing number of constituencies that use the internet as a tool to find information about people. A survey by CareerBuilder.com found that one in four hiring managers used search engines to screen candidates. One in 10 also checked candidates' profiles on social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and other communicative networks. [10] According to a December 2007 survey by the Ponemon Institute, a privacy research organization, roughly half of U.S. hiring officials use the Internet in vetting job applications. [11] Online identity management may also be used to increase an individual's professional online presence. When practicing online identity management, employers receive a satisfied notion regarding their candidate's professional attitudes and personality. This may result in a candidate receiving the job based on their professional online presence. [12] Online Identity management is key to having a successful business and relationship with the public. An online presence is vital to the digital world we live in today. Many employers check the social network account of their candidate to grasp the kind of person they are. Even after being hired companies will continuously check account to ensure professionalism and company privacy is being maintained. [9]

The concept of manipulating search results to show positive results is intriguing for both individuals and businesses. Individuals that want to hide from their past can use OIM to repair their online image and suppress content that damages their credibility, employability and reputation. By changing what people see when searching for an individual, they are able to create a completely new and positive identity in its place. In 2014, the EU ruled that people have "The right to be forgotten", and that in some circumstances content can be removed from Google's search index.

In 1988, the European Union passed the Safe Harbor Act which prohibited the sharing unauthorized personal information. Many companies to this day voluntarily comply to this law; however, it is the job of the user to fully ensure the safety of their online identity. The European Union later passed the a landmark ruling back in 2014, that stated that all individuals have the "right to be forgotten". This granted user's the removal of all irrelevant data that could harm one's online identity [12]

Online identity management is also a factor and important when a person is seeking a need or good. Depending on companies online viewers and content can encourage or discourage a sale. Online identity management is important because decisions can be made depending on online activity. Depending on the motives of the goods, company, and person their online identity should serve the purpose of heightening their likeness, attractiveness, and exposure.

See also

Related Research Articles

Social software, also known as social apps or social platform includes communications and interactive tools that are often based on the Internet. Communication tools typically handle capturing, storing and presenting communication, usually written but increasingly including audio and video as well. Interactive tools handle mediated interactions between a pair or group of users. They focus on establishing and maintaining a connection among users, facilitating the mechanics of conversation and talk. Social software generally refers to software that makes collaborative behaviour, the organisation and moulding of communities, self-expression, social interaction and feedback possible for individuals. Another element of the existing definition of social software is that it allows for the structured mediation of opinion between people, in a centralized or self-regulating manner. The most improved area for social software is that Web 2.0 applications can all promote co-operation between people and the creation of online communities more than ever before. The opportunities offered by social software are instant connections and opportunities to learn.An additional defining feature of social software is that apart from interaction and collaboration, it aggregates the collective behaviour of its users, allowing not only crowds to learn from an individual but individuals to learn from the crowds as well. Hence, the interactions enabled by social software can be one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many.

Impression management is a conscious or subconscious process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object or event by regulating and controlling information in social interaction. It was first conceptualized by Erving Goffman in 1959 in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, and then was expanded upon in 1967.

Reputation management, originally a public relations term, refers to the influencing, controlling, enhancing, or concealing of an individual's or group's reputation. The growth of the internet and social media led to growth of reputation management companies, with search results as a core part of a client's reputation. Online reputation management, sometimes abbreviated as ORM, focuses on the management of product and service search engine results.

Internet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storage, re-purposing, provision to third parties, and display of information pertaining to oneself via the Internet. Internet privacy is a subset of data privacy. Privacy concerns have been articulated from the beginnings of large-scale computer sharing and especially relate to mass surveillance.

Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising that uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. Online advertising includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising, and mobile advertising. Advertisements are increasingly being delivered via automated software systems operating across multiple websites, media services and platforms, known as programmatic advertising.

Internet identity (IID), also online identity, online personality, online persona or internet persona, is a social identity that an Internet user establishes in online communities and websites. It may also be an actively constructed presentation of oneself. Although some people choose to use their real names online, some Internet users prefer to be anonymous, identifying themselves by means of pseudonyms, which reveal varying amounts of personally identifiable information. An online identity may even be determined by a user's relationship to a certain social group they are a part of online. Some can be deceptive about their identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Personal web page</span> Web page created by an individual to contain personal content

Personal web pages are World Wide Web pages created by an individual to contain content of a personal nature rather than content pertaining to a company, organization or institution. Personal web pages are primarily used for informative or entertainment purposes but can also be used for personal career marketing, social networking with other people with shared interests, or as a space for personal expression.

Personal branding is the conscious and intentional effort to create and influence public perception of an individual by positioning them as an authority in their industry, elevating their credibility, and differentiating themselves from the competition, to ultimately advance their career, widen their circle of influence, and have a larger impact.

Social media optimization (SMO) is the use of a number of outlets and communities to generate publicity to increase the awareness of a product, service brand or event. Types of social media involved include RSS feeds, social news, bookmarking sites, and social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, video sharing websites, and blogging sites. SMO is similar to search engine optimization (SEO) in that the goal is to generate web traffic and increase awareness for a website. SMO's focal point is on gaining organic links to social media content. In contrast, SEO's core is about reaching the top of the search engine hierarchy. In general, social media optimization refers to optimizing a website and its content to encourage more users to use and share links to the website across social media and networking sites.

Social search is a behavior of retrieving and searching on a social searching engine that mainly searches user-generated content such as news, videos and images related search queries on social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Flickr. It is an enhanced version of web search that combines traditional algorithms. The idea behind social search is that instead of ranking search results purely based on semantic relevance between a query and the results, a social search system also takes into account social relationships between the results and the searcher. The social relationships could be in various forms. For example, in LinkedIn people search engine, the social relationships include social connections between searcher and each result, whether or not they are in the same industries, work for the same companies, belong the same social groups, and go the same schools, etc.

A Website content writer or web content writer is a person who specializes in providing relevant content for websites; it is a sub-specialty of copywriting. Every website has a specific target audience and requires the most relevant content to attract business. Content should contain keywords aimed towards improving a website's SEO. A website content writer who also has knowledge of the SEO process is referred to as an SEO Content Writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geotargeting</span> Website content based on a visitors location

In geomarketing and internet marketing, geotargeting is the method of delivering different content to visitors based on their geolocation. This includes country, region/state, city, metro code/zip code, organization, IP address, ISP, or other criteria. A common usage of geotargeting is found in online advertising, as well as internet television with sites such as iPlayer and Hulu. In these circumstances, content is often restricted to users geolocated in specific countries; this approach serves as a means of implementing digital rights management. Use of proxy servers and virtual private networks may give a false location.

A web presence is a location on the World Wide Web where a person, business, or some other entity is represented.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital footprint</span> Ones unique set of traceable digital activities

Digital footprint or digital shadow refers to one's unique set of traceable digital activities, actions, contributions, and communications manifested on the Internet or digital devices. Digital footprints can be classified as either passive or active. The former is composed of a user's web-browsing activity and information stored as cookies. The latter is often released deliberately by a user to share information on websites or social media. While the term usually applies to a person, a digital footprint can also refer to a business, organization or corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Targeted advertising</span> Form of advertising

Targeted advertising is a form of advertising, including online advertising, that is directed towards an audience with certain traits, based on the product or person the advertiser is promoting. These traits can either be demographic with a focus on race, economic status, sex, age, generation, level of education, income level, and employment, or psychographic focused on the consumer values, personality, attitude, opinion, lifestyle and interest. This focus can also entail behavioral variables, such as browser history, purchase history, and other recent online activities. The process of algorithm targeting eliminates waste.

Online vetting, also known as cyber-vetting is used by potential employers and other acquaintances to vet people's online presence or "internet reputation" ("netrep") on search engines such as Google and Yahoo, and social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Employers may check profiles, posts, and photographs for indications that the candidate is unsuitable for a certain job or position.

Online presence management is the process of creating and promoting traffic to a personal or professional brand online. This process combines web design, and development, blogging, search engine optimization, pay-per-click marketing, reputation management, directory listings, social media, link sharing, and other avenues to create a long-term positive presence for a person, organization, or product in search engines and on the web in general.

Since the arrival of early social networking sites in the early 2000s, online social networking platforms have expanded exponentially, with the biggest names in social media in the mid-2010s being Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. The massive influx of personal information that has become available online and stored in the cloud has put user privacy at the forefront of discussion regarding the database's ability to safely store such personal information. The extent to which users and social media platform administrators can access user profiles has become a new topic of ethical consideration, and the legality, awareness, and boundaries of subsequent privacy violations are critical concerns in advance of the technological age.

Corporate surveillance describes the practice of businesses monitoring and extracting information from their users, clients, or staff. This information may consist of online browsing history, email correspondence, phone calls, location data, and other private details. Acts of corporate surveillance frequently look to boost results, detect potential security problems, or adjust advertising strategies. These practices have been criticized for violating ethical standards and invading personal privacy. Critics and privacy activists have called for businesses to incorporate rules and transparency surrounding their monitoring methods to ensure they are not misusing their position of authority or breaching regulatory standards.

Social profiling is the process of constructing a social media user's profile using his or her social data. In general, profiling refers to the data science process of generating a person's profile with computerized algorithms and technology. There are various platforms for sharing this information with the proliferation of growing popular social networks, including but not limited to LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook and Twitter.

References

  1. ↑ Tufekci, Zeynep (2008). "Can You See Me Now? Audience and Disclosure Regulation in Online Social Network Sites". Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society. 28 (1): 20–36. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.468.6581 . doi:10.1177/0270467607311484. S2CID   145666331.
  2. ↑ Siibak, A. (2007). "Casanova` s of the Virtual World. How Boys Present Themselves on Dating Websites". Young People at the Crossroads: 5th International Conference on Youth Research in Karelia; Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, Russian Federation; September 1-5, 2006. (Eds.) M. Muukkonen& K. Sotkasiira. Joensuu University: Joensuun yliopisto. pp. 83–91. ISBN   978-952-219-020-8.
  3. ↑ Seth Godin (January 2, 2008). "The first thing to do this year". Seth Godin.
  4. ↑ PROTALINSKI, EMIL. "Facebook estimates that between 5.5% and 11.2% of accounts are fake". The Next Web.
  5. ↑ Marcus, Bernd; Machilek, Franz; Schütz, Astrid (2006). "Personality in cyberspace: Personal web sites as media for personality expressions and impressions". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 90 (6): 1014–1031. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.90.6.1014. PMID   16784349. S2CID   8110426.
  6. ↑ Bahri, Leila; Carminati, Barbara; Ferrari, Elena (April 30, 2018). "Knowledge-based approaches for identity management in online social networks". Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery. 8 (5): e1260. doi:10.1002/widm.1260. ISSN   1942-4787. S2CID   52075212.
  7. ↑ Learmonth, Michael (2009). "Want 5,000 More Facebook Friends? That'll Be $654.30". Advertising Age.
  8. ↑ Susan Kinzie and Ellen Nakashima (July 2, 2007). "Calling In Pros to Refine Your Google Image". The Washington Post.
  9. 1 2 Gerhart, Natalie; Sidorova, Anna (July 3, 2017). "The Effect of Network Characteristics on Online Identity Management Practices". Journal of Computer Information Systems. 57 (3): 229–237. doi:10.1080/08874417.2016.1184007. ISSN   0887-4417. S2CID   64511416.
  10. ↑ Cristian Lupsa (November 29, 2006). "Do you need a Web publicist?". The Christian Science Monitor.
  11. ↑ Ellen Nakashima (March 7, 2007). "Harsh Words Die Hard on the Web". Washington Post.
  12. 1 2 "Gale - Product Login". link.galegroup.com. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
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