Your Online Identity

Answer 1

These days when most people start college, or return to school after a few years off, they already have an email account. It's probably one they've had for several years, perhaps through Yahoo or Gmail, and all their friends use that email address. That email address is part of your online identity. You may even have friends you've never met in person who think of you as "name@example.com."

But just as you have multiple identities in the real world that reflect your roles and relationships—parent, child, sibling, employee, friend --you need to think about multiple online identities, or at least roles. Your school may have offered you a school email account; some even mandate that your use the school account for all official school online activity. That's because if the school requires you are using your email account ID to log in, to school Web site or systems, they need a way of verifying your access.

Even if you don't have to have an official school email, it's a good idea to start separating your school life and data from your personal life and data. You can create a free email account at Yahoo or Google to use just for school email, keeping your personal email account, well, personal. You might think about doing the same with the rest of your online identity.

Think about what you do online, especially in terms of posts or comments. Are you on Facebook? Take a look at the complicated privacy settings on Facebook. Think about controlling who sees what posts and other information using Facebook's Friends lists. Think about what you post--and keep in mind that fellow students might Google you, and that faculty and staff might very well also have Facebook accounts. You might not follow your teachers, but a classmate might, and do you really want everyone on campus to know you have a hangover?

It's much better to keep your private life private, and separate from your life as a student, just as after college you'll want to keep a barrier between your private life and your work life.