📌 Digital identity represents how a person appears online and how others perceive them, whereas traditional identity is generally associated with physical records and specific contexts.
Digital identity describes the online image; digital citizenship describes responsible online conduct.
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Digital identity can affect how other people perceive someone and can have consequences for that person's privacy and online security.
Managing online privacy helps protect digital identity by controlling what information is available to the public, businesses, and potential malicious actors.
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Digital literacy helps people understand online technologies, protect themselves, make informed decisions, and participate constructively as responsible digital citizens.
Good online privacy practices include: configuring social-media privacy settings, using strong passwords, being cautious about information shared online
Managing shared information carefully → better protection of digital identity.
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Personal information in a digital identity may include a person's name, date of birth, gender, and contact details.
Online activity that contributes to a digital identity includes:
Employers, companies, and other people may evaluate a person's digital identity to verify background, assess suitability for a job, or judge the reliability of an online source.
Digital information may remain online long after a person has died, raising privacy and legal questions.
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📌 A digital profile is a specific, often user-controlled representation on a particular platform, whereas digital identity is the broader total of a person's profiles and online activities across platforms and time.
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Digital profiles can be personalized according to user preferences, including by choosing what information to share and what content to publish.
Digital profiles may be used for:
A profile is platform-specific; digital identity spans profiles and activity across platforms and time.
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Personal social-media profiles share personal information, photos, and interests and connect users with friends and contacts.
Professional social-media profiles, such as LinkedIn profiles, emphasize a user's career, work experience, skills, and achievements.
Company or brand profiles promote products and services and enable organizations to communicate with customers online.
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📌 Each digital profile has a specific purpose and audience, and managing profiles helps keep an online representation accurate and consistent while supporting privacy and security.
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Online-shopping profiles store information about buyers’ past purchases and preferences.
Job-platform profiles let candidates present their work experience and skills and seek employment opportunities.
Discussion-forum profiles can display users’ usernames, activity histories, and participation in discussions.
Online-learning profiles let students manage their courses, progress, and educational activities.
Email profiles let users personalize profile information, including their name and signature.
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📌 Operational networking supports daily tasks, strategic networking creates connections for long-term perspectives, personal networking provides emotional support, online networking builds digital connections through platforms, and intraprofessional networking connects people within a profession.
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Basic social media profile information can include a user’s name, profile photo, gender, birth date, and location to help others identify and connect with them.
The stated ideal size for a social media profile photo is 180 × 180 pixels.
📌 For a brand, using its logo as the profile photo is recommended for recognizability; for a personal brand, either a logo or a professional photo that conveys the person’s character may be used, while sunglasses and landscape photos are discouraged.
A social media profile name can use a brand name, a keyword describing the activity, or a combination of a personal name and brand; the source recommends a 30-character limit.
A profile biography or description can include a biography, interests, occupation, and other personal details; the source recommends a 30-character limit and relevant keywords.
Social media profiles can show a timeline of posts and interactions such as comments, likes, and shares, reflecting the user’s activity and personality.
Social media profiles can show connections made through friend requests, following public profiles, or other connections, as well as follower and following counts.
Social media platforms let users share profile photos and videos, indicate interests and hobbies to connect with like-minded people, and configure who can view or interact with their content.
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📌 Generation X tends to be more cautious and private online, Millennials more often share personal details and value authenticity and work-life balance, and Generation Z uses multiple platforms creatively while being selective about shared information and attentive to privacy and security.
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Generations X, Y, and Z are familiar with technology and social media; Millennials are especially associated with prolific social-media use and early adoption of mobile technology.
Generations X, Y, and Z commonly value workplace flexibility, diversity, sustainability, and self-fulfillment, while Millennials particularly seek work-life balance.
Generations X, Y, and Z have witnessed major advances in civil rights, technology, and the environment and have participated actively in social and political movements.
Generation X is more private, Millennials seek authenticity and balance, and Generation Z combines creativity with caution.
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📌 Information is generally nonpersonal when it is anonymous or deidentified, publicly available and intentionally shared, related to a business rather than an individual, statistical or demographic, or unable to identify a person.
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Personal data can identify a person; nonpersonal data cannot.
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📌 Digital-citizenship education in vocational education should teach online privacy, security, respectful conduct, password management, cyberbullying prevention, and how to identify reliable online sources.
📌 Students should be taught to take responsibility for their online actions by citing online sources appropriately, respecting copyright, and avoiding plagiarism.
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📌 Students should be taught to configure and regularly review privacy settings on social networks and other online platforms to control what information is public and who can access it.
Digital portfolios let students present their work, achievements, and skills and build professional profiles reflecting their abilities and academic accomplishments.
The course distinguishes confidential portfolios, public learning portfolios open to everyone, and continuous portfolios that are public but restricted.
Educators and parents can monitor and supervise students’ online activities, especially for younger students, to support safety and guide appropriate decisions.
Educators should promote ethical online behavior, including respect, tolerance, and empathy, and discuss cyberbullying and courteous treatment of others.
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Students should be authentic online and avoid creating false profiles or spreading misleading information.
Students should respect online diversity, appreciate different perspectives and cultures, critically assess online content, and avoid spreading hate speech.
Open communication among students, educators, and parents should help address digital identity and online safety problems, and students should feel comfortable reporting online harassment or threats.
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Organizations should limit the collection and retention of personal data, keeping it no longer than necessary because holding more data increases the potential impact of a data breach.
Internal access controls should ensure that only authorized parties can access organizational systems and data, since unauthorized access can cause a data breach or privacy violation.
Personal profiles should be restricted to family and close friends, whereas professional profiles aim to reach a broad audience and showcase a person's professional skills and achievements.
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📌 Organizations should build security and privacy into their services and use secure data-archiving protocols with limits and permissions for other users.
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The Spanish Organic Law 3/2018 of 5 December on Personal Data Protection and the Guarantee of Digital Rights (LOPDGDD) adapts Spanish law to the European GDPR and repealed the former 1999 LOPD.
The GDPR and similar privacy laws set requirements for organizations' collection, storage, and use of personal information and seek to ensure secure handling and individual control over personal data.
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📌 People should use HTTPS websites because TLS encryption protects information transmitted between the browser and the server; HTTP sites do not provide this protection.
📌 Strong passwords should combine letters, numbers, and symbols, be unique, and be paired with two-factor authentication (2FA); users should avoid weak or reused passwords.
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People should manage cookies to limit tracking; blocking unnecessary third-party cookies can reduce the number of parties tracking online activity, although some cookies are necessary for websites to function.
A privacy-focused DNS resolver can help protect browsing privacy because DNS resolvers may track visited domains and sell that information to advertisers; examples given are Cloudflare DNS (1.1.1.1) and Quad9 (9.9.9.9).
People should read a service's terms and privacy policy to understand how it collects, uses, and shares personal information before using it.
People should limit disclosure of personal information to third parties and provide only the data necessary for an online service.
People should make regular backups of important information and keep multiple copies in different locations to reduce the risk of losing data.
People should keep operating systems, applications, and device firmware updated to protect against known security vulnerabilities.
Digital Profile and Digital Identity
| Aspect | Digital profile | Digital identity |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Specific representation on a platform | All profiles and online activity |
| Time and platforms | Often focused on one platform | Across platforms and past and present activity |
| Control | Often personalized by the user | Includes traces beyond chosen profile content |
Take a 33-question practice quiz on Digital Identity and Online Profiles, with every answer explained.
1. What does a person’s digital identity consist of?
2. A user avoids spreading misinformation, respects others’ privacy, and contributes constructively to an online community. What does this behavior demonstrate?
Memorize the key concepts of Digital Identity and Online Profiles with 83 flashcards.
What is digital identity?
The sum of a person’s or entity’s online traces and profiles, including past and present web activity.
What is digital citizenship?
Responsible and ethical online behavior and participation.
What online behaviors are part of digital citizenship?
Respecting privacy, avoiding cyberbullying and misinformation, and contributing positively to online communities.
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