In this video, Rhonda Lowry is a big supporter of virtual realities like Second Life. She puts a big emphasis on how in order to successfully use virtual realities, we need to change the way we see our "identity." Rhonda is a credited professional with many skills and talents, yet her online "identity" is an alias. Her Second Life identity is Grace McDunnough, an avatar that she controls through her computer. Personally, I think that's silly. Social media tools and websites give us the opportunity to explore, discover, and connect with so many people and topics. I don't understand the necessity to have a different identity or avatar that is different from yourself to participate successfully. I think that your online presence should reflect your own personality as much as possible.
For networking purposes, it makes sense to have your online identity be the same as the person you really are. If I'm looking for advice or people to connect with and create a network, I want to know who it is I'm connecting to. The online profile and the actual person should be the same. Your real identity should be portrayed truthfully online because of our converging culture too. People use multiple social media sites and their presence online should be consistent for each. We are definitely moving away from the Industrial Age and virtual realities are going to become more common, but people are still people. We have new technologies and social tools to help us connect and make work more efficient, but we need to understand who we are connecting to.
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