I asked the following question on twitter, and I’ll share the responses:
“if your twitter name isn’t your real name, why did you choose it?”
I was curious what kind of answers I would get. One was a single word, or should I say hashtag, @Brainwise’s ‘#Anagram’…
Another response led me to an entry where someone else had asked this same question regarding screen names.
Other great responses:
“cuz I didn’t want the whole world to know who I am…”
I have to say, of the responses, the one I most identify with personally is Nysidra’s: “Nysidra is my Internet name. That’s almost the same as a “real” name, ja?”
Rocketjam takes it to another level, having spent a lot of time developing a kind of personal brand around his online presence slash “..twitter name…online identity thing” provided a link to his FAQ detailing where his name arose and what he does online.
So I titled this post, why bother constructing identity online? I think the answer is first, that it is fun – identity tourism is a kind of theatrical performance, and speaking through a mask provides a kind of empowerment. However, quickly that mask becomes an extension of the ego, a kind of armament of the id even. That is possibly the most important secondary reason – it provides a kind of personal narrative for internal dialogue – and a way to accrue presence in a social space without the physical restrictions that govern meatspace. I don’t dare attempt to tie any sort of trends to this kind of anecdotal sampling, but I do think the way that identity is deliberately constructed an endlessly fascinating area of research.