As technology, and the way we use it have changed, our identites online have also changed over time. We have the power to create another 'us' through cyberspace, perhaps sometimes creating the person we would rather want to be online, instead of real life.
Chat room's allowed people to communicate with each other, giving the feeling of 'online community'. You selected the room you wanted to be with and communicate with people aslo in that room. Your had your 'username', allowing people to identify who are are.
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| An example of a chat room conversation taking place |
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| An example of AOL chat room names |
Homepages were also a popular tool used by people to create and share information about themselves with other people online. This allowed the developlment of personal identity and freedom of expression, as they could write a description of themselves, as well as uploading photos of themselves and their family/friends. People visiting the website would have the option to 'sign' the guestbook, where they could leave a comment. This could be seen as the equivalent of facebook when you write on someone's wall. Facbook can be seen as the updated version of a personal homepage with added features such as 'tagging' and 'updating your status'. Perhaps the major difference between facebook and the homepage is you had more control over what you wanted your readers to see on your hompeage. Although facebook has privacy settings, there are still some information that you could be sharing without your knowledge. There were various hompage hosts such as geocites, freewebs, and piczo, ect, many of which have now closed down.
There are also Virtual reality games such as SIMS and second life where you can create a a whole new world and identity with the use of 3D graphics. You might also be able to chat to other real life people online. Some people may even meet up online but be dissapointed as they might not be who they portrayed online in real life.
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| Second life |
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| SIM's |
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