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What influences my online persona?


Our modern world is completely different from the world that existed many years ago. The knowledge we have of ourselves and our whole entire universe has increased. Technological developments have revolutionized the way we communicate with each other.  Everyone has their own 'personal brand' while not many of us have consciously cultivated a brand, we have one, nonetheless. In our society nowadays we can choose to guide and cultivate the brand, or we can allow it to be defined on our behalf.

In today's blog post I will explore what factors influence our online personas and in doing so how this affects how others may perceive us.

For instance, if we take a normal conversation with someone in real life it is most likely to be direct and straight to the point as it cannot be as easily traced as if it was in a virtual environment setting. What we post online is going to be there forever as it is a lot more difficult to remove our digital traces in a world containing technology that is constantly evolving. We do or say things in real life we wouldn't normally post online. Everyone unconsciously does it. While the longevity of what we post online remains, we begin to think about what we choose to share about ourselves as it has a lasting impact that may affect our personal brand in a good or bad way in the long run.

From my own personal experiences of diving into social media at a young age, I feel I cannot resonate with my 15-year-old self anymore as at 21 years of age I have matured and grown up.

For example, Kate Nash a social media manager, handled social media accounts for Frederick County Public school. One student responded to the school’s twitter account with misspellings, Nash saw an educational opportunity and responded. Her response sparked controversy and she was asked to delete the tweet and apologize to the student. Shortly afterwards she was let go from the job.

Image 1: Consequences of online personas. 
  

Michael Simmons once wrote "authenticity is key in digital age", we choose how to develop our online persona by being purposeful in what we share, auditing your very own online presence or finding ways on how to produce good value.

To conclude today's blog post, understanding what an online persona is has helped influence my own knowledge of what factors influence how others perceive my online persona. Although you have full control over your online persona, it is impossible to fully understand other people’s online personas as they may only share a limited amount whether that information is true or false is something to think about.

Bibliography:
  1. "6 People Who Were Fired For Social Media Posts - Workopolis Blog". 2019. Workopolis Blog. https://careers.workopolis.com/advice/6-people-who-were-fired-for-social-media-posts/.
  2. "The Modern World | Life Squared". 2019. Lifesquared.Org.Uk. https://www.lifesquared.org.uk/modern-world.


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