What about Identity in Social media?

Humankind has been living ‘online’ for more than twenty years now, under the pressure of extending its real-life existence into the virtual world. The increasingly complex virtual life has also brought forth a paradigm shift in identity. Our daily lives seem caught in a digital web with profound ramifications at individual, organisational, and societal levels. The analysis of identity construction, performance, and development, and the 'rules' to be followed for successful integration in specific environments (acting, television, education, etc.) have become central topics of identity studies over the past few decades. Online identities have got very little attention so far, despite a long legacy of critical management and organisation studies literature on identity. The assumption of online gender identity, love affairs, or reality shows routinely exposed on different platforms to form communities and ultimately earn money, influencers, and the ethics of almost uncontrolled advertising are topics fiercely debated by specialists. In this context, the massive evolution of digital tools is changing perceptions, businesses, and even lives, which makes us pay special attention to digital identity, as an emerging concept. The article thus traces a potential online identity path that leads (if we know how) to what we want to be perceived as “I” and co-exists with us, sometimes even after our physical disappearance.