Identity Online

How many online identities do you have? What are they like?    
I have more than 5 online identities. They are some blogs, emails, Msn Forums and facebook.Some of them are rather serious, for example, the blog related to academic issues, in thoseblogs, I will be much more serious than my "in person" identities.Moreover, sometimes I may use a fake name in forums because I don't want to reveal too muchpersonal information on the net. I think in general, most of my online identities are different from my "in person" identities in terms of the seriousness and the way I present myself. I think I will be absolutely much more careful on how much personal data I'm giving out. However, on theother hand, I will be more comfortable to share my personal feelings or even some secrets when I'm using my blog which showing a fake name of mine.

In what way are they different to your "in person" identities?  
Some of them are rather serious, for example, the blog related to academic issues, in thoseblogs, I will be much more serious than my "in person" identities.Moreover, sometimes I may use a fake name in forums because I don't want to reveal too muchpersonal information on the net. I think in general, most of my online identities are different from my "in person" identities in terms of the seriousness and the way I present myself. I think I will be absolutely much more careful on how much personal data I'm giving out. However, on theother hand, I will be more comfortable to share my personal feelings or even some secrets when I'm using my blog which showing a fake name of mine.

What are some benefits of expressing one’s identity online?  
 I think one can get different kinds of infomation easier when they are expressing their identity online, for example, they can gather people's opinions or their past experiences very easily in  forum. And also, it is easier for us to know about our friends since it is so convenient that we just need a click to check on others' daily lives.

What are some risks?

 Since we inevitably need some accounts for establishing our identities online, we are giving our personal data to many third parties and we may not even be aware of this personal information exposure. I think this is definitely a risk when we are contructing our online identities.