Loss of Identity
Loss of identity, as pointed out by Cronin (2005) (as cited in Bawden & Robinson, 2009) is:
| [...] inherent in tools which allow anonymity and pseudonimity in their contributors. There are numerous anecdotal accounts of contributors to wikis making false claim to qualification and authority, and of authors of blogs adopting false personas. This makes it particularly difficult to assess the validity of the information presented (p. 8). |
It is obvious that in the cases where the identity of the creator or contributor of information cannot be discovered, the information can't be trusted for serious purposes, but that's not the case for all social networks, for example Linked-in is an instance of a social network where the purpose is to maintain a list of contacts who we know and trust professionally, and one of the new features is that professional groups can be created and any user can start discussions inside of these groups. Also, loss of identity is not an issue that big in social networks, because there is a tendency to use real names and base interactions on real world social structures
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| Source http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwFC0jfxTco |