In 2013 alone, Facebook estimated that there were at least 67.65 million ‘fake’ accounts created in a month. (Protalinski, 2014). Notably, this would mean that in a year, at least 52.89 million Facebook accounts are duplicates. The question is, why would somebody want to create more than one online account for an individual?
Self-censorship is one of the main reasons why duplicate accounts are created. As we are often warned of potential employers discovering our not-so-glamorous party photos on Facebook, many have opted to separate business and pleasure, by having a ‘private’ account for their personal posts, as well as a ‘professional’ account for networking. Personally, I believe that having more than one online identity for this reason is valid as being able to control what personal information is revealed to who in different contexts is paramount to our reputation and security, which has also been pointed out in Zimmer’s (2010) article on Facebook privacy.
Image by: ANtestblog
Social Media: Your life with all the bad bits filtered out
However, having multiple digital identities might be detrimental to your security due to a handful of people who abuse them with malicious intents. The ability of being able to hide behind an anonymous alter ego has resulted in various cowardice acts such as cyber-bullying or ‘trolling’, and encourage words of hate online which would otherwise not suffice in reality. A larger scale example would be the Anonymous organisation, who misuses the anonymity of the web to spread political hate and propaganda.
Image by Anonews
Identity theft has also been a pressing issue in the current times. We have all heard cases of online dating gone wrong, where by individuals steal identities and pictures of others to pass off as their real identities. Thus the term ‘catfishing’ was coined and is defined as the act of setting up a false personal profile on social networking sites for deceptive or fraudulent purposes, and has been a rising phenomenon over the past decade (Freedating, 2015). Catfishing has been a rampant issue, with Channel NewsAsia (2016) reporting the mass increase in credit-for-sex scams, which has leapfrogged from 66 cases in 2014, to over 200 cases alone from January to April 2016.
Info graphic and Image by Channel NewsAsia.
Despite the plethora of online-related crimes, I believe that having more than one online profile is harmless and might in fact be beneficial in filtering and separating different aspects of your life. However, doing so for malicious intents would be undoubtedly be unethical and inappropriate. We must always keep in mind that digital footprints are all over the web, and we have to be extra meticulous to protect ourselves and our reputation.
References:
Channel NewsAsia (2016). ‘Scams exploiting infocomm tech on the rise in Singapore: Police’ Available from: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/scams-exploiting-infocomm/2872234.html
Freedating (2015). ‘Catfishing, dont take the bait’ Available from: https://www.freedating.co.uk/infographics/catfishing-dont-take-the-bait.html
Zimmer, M. (2010). ‘Facebook’s Zuckerberg: Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity’ Available from: http://www.michaelzimmer.org/2010/05/14/facebooks-zuckerberg-having-two-identities-for-yourself-is-an-example-of-a-lack-of-integrity/
Image by http://www.anonews.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/jag_360000-1000×600.jpg
Image by http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/scams-exploiting-infocomm/2872234.html
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