Social media has become increasingly embedded into our everyday lives as a mechanism for voicing our opinions, sharing our achievements, and connecting with each other over joys and heartaches. Our interactions and relationships online largely influence how we define ourselves and others.

But when does sharing become oversharing? How can you leverage the power of social media without compromising your privacy and safety? When does online identity forming become inauthentic or even dangerous?

As an introduction to this topic, watch this short video on the impact that technology has on inter-personal relationships in the 21st century.

As evidence of successful completion of this content badge, you will consider how the online environment shapes your public identity, and reflect on the implications of these identity(ies), as well as the identities of others. You will analyze your online presence, including your digital footprint (your online “reputation”) and your digital fingerprint (traces of your identity left online that can compromise your privacy). Finally, you will learn how to leverage the online environment as a positive platform for showcasing who you are and what you stand for.

For this content badge you have completed challenged that address the complex and interweaving issues of online personas and personal privacy. For the purposes of thinking widely about social identity as it manifests online, please read the article, A New Way to Talk About Poverty in Troy, New York By Jordan G. Teicher, which details an interesting photo-journalism project.

This project was originally featured in Slate, an online, current affairs and culture journal. Slate shared the article on its own site, and on Facebook.

How did you respond when reading this article? What questions did you have?

Responses to this project were widely discussed and debated in viral sharing of the original photos. The responses were not always positive – and some suggest they were resoundingly negative, with a backlash against the ways in which the photographer potentially exploited the subjects. Too, some comments suggested that “seeing poverty” in this way was unethical – and unnecessary. See, for example, this article written by Mike Churchill, titled An Unflattering Portrait of Poverty in Troy.

In this Op-Ed piece by Anna Altman from the New York Times, When Struggling Families Spark Internet Rage the photographer states that she wished she had retained more control over the conditions under which the photos were originally shared with Slate.

Using this project as a case study, reflect on and analyze the implications of social identity formation in the online environment. As you craft your response, consider the following questions:

• How did this project impact the already formed identities of the subjects – virtual, authentic, and otherwise?

• What are the ethical implications for the dissemination of these photos?

• Is Slate responsible for the backlash against the photographer? Is the photographer?

• What are the implications for how the photos were edited? Distributed? Does it matter that Slate used Facebook as a vehicle for distribution? Why or why not?

• What are the conditions under which we get to decide how our identities are used, scripted, reproduced in the online, visual, viral environment? Can we ever really have the power to completely do so?