1.5 “Digital Footprints: Public Writing and Social Identities”
1.5 “Digital Footprints: Public Writing and Social Identities”
by Cassandra Branham & Danielle Farrar
Mark Zuckerberg claimed in a 2010 interview that we all only have “one identity” (as cited in Mainwaring, 2010). But as we have witnessed social networking sites (SNSs) set up shop across vastly different communities for vastly different purposes, it has become clear that Zuckerberg cannot be right. While there may be similarities found in an individual’s Facebook, LinkedIn, and Ravelry profiles, the differing target audiences, interfaces, and SNS purposes make it easy for an individual to create and express a plurality of social identities.
Though the concept of social identity is not new, social networking and new media technologies have extended our understanding of social identities. Furthermore, writing plays a significant role in the various online spaces we use to create our individualized digital footprints, that is, the digital trail of data that we leave behind when interacting in or with online technologies Whether we write on Facebook to share with friends or families or on LinkedIn to connect with other professionals, the act of public writing should be executed with thought and critical consideration. With employers regularly looking to SNSs to tell them whether or not to hire prospective employees, it is crucial for individuals to be aware of not only what their social identities reveal about themselves but also how this information can be interpreted. A 2011 survey of hiring professionals reveals that 91% of employers do active screening of potential employees through social network sites, and 76% of the time they screen through Facebook, 48% through LinkedIn, and 53% with Twitter (Swallow, 2011). Additionally, “In June 2013, a nationwide survey by CareerBuilder found that more than two in five hiring managers (43 percent) who vetted applicants online did not hire an applicant based on information found online” (Jodka, 2013). Research shows that employers are intently looking at prospective employees’ social identities, but even if what they discover is not necessarily bad, employers may misinterpret what they find.
Likewise, a study on online relationships between employers and employees points out that “companies that screen applicants via social media may misunderstand online behavior, causing them to eliminate good candidates” (Ollier-Malaterre, Rothbard, & Berg, 2013, p. 648; Jodka, 2013). Hiring managers may misinterpret information found online because this information is often decontextualized. It is already clear that maintaining privacy in online spaces is highly difficult, if at all possible, to effectively manage. Thus, when hiring managers or other people in positions of power access digitally archived information (as in a Facebook timeline or Tumblr feed), this information is not contextualized for the viewer/reader, so they interpret that information in accordance with their own experiences. Because this information