Why Do We Need Online Identities?

The internet is rapidly becoming every individual’s window to the world. What we choose to showcase through that window is what we want to project ourselves as to the World Wide Web. This can be referred to as an “online identity.”

There are two major platforms on the web where online identities are used the most: Social Networking and Professional Networking. Most people are familiar with the larger social networking sites, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, as well as the most popular professional networking site, LinkedIn. But there is also a place on the internet where online identities go hand and hand, whether they are someone’s actual name, a pseudonym, or they are completely anonymous: online blogs.

What Are Blogs?

Blogs are web logs that are updated on a regular basis by their author. They can contain information related to a specific topic. In some cases blogs are used as daily diaries about people’s personal lives, political views, or even as social commentaries. Blogs can be shaped into whatever you, the author, want them to be. Blog’s give you an opportunity to write content that is unique to you and your field of expertise.

Today blog’s are being used for all sorts of purposes. You have companies that use blogs to communicate and interact with customers and other stake holders. Newspapers incorporate blogs to their main website to offer a new channel for their writers. Individuals also create blogs to share with the world their knowledge on specific topics.

What Should Your Online Identity Be?

The majority of all large companies who have blogs or any sort of online communication with the World Wide Web like to avoid spam as much as possible. Therefore, registering with them usually means having to provide your real identity in order to blog on issues and topics they create on threads. This can cause many bloggers to not voice themselves fully online. When bloggers are given the choice to create a pseudonym, the results can show an increase in volume of posts online.

What is a Pseudonym?

A pseudonym is a “false” name that a person uses for a particular purpose, such as contributing to a blog post, that hides that individual’s real name to better represent who they are online. This is different from posting anonymously online, because the pseudonym, can give an individual a chance to express a different persona that relates to the topic in discussion.

DISQUS is an online service that offers a centralized discussion platform used by hundreds of thousands of sites all over the web. They recently collected data to see what most people are using as their online personalities, and the results are in.

According to DISQUS, pseudonyms are the most valuable contributors to communities because they contribute the highest quantity and quality of comments. In fact, pseudonyms made up 61% of comments by identity in DISQUS analysis. They also commented for frequently – 6.5 times more frequently than anonymous commenters and 4.7 times more frequently than commenters using a real name (via Facebook).

Even if you're a larger corporation, you may want to consider allowing pseudonyms for your followers to use. This can provide your company with more useful data to work with and analyze. 

Please contact Cool Blue Interactive for all your blog needs.