Social Networks, Cyberspace and Formation of Virtual Identity of the Users

Today's world is a world that has been affected by the plurality of values, a fragmented world, a world with various ways of living, a world in which, as “Sartre" puts it, values do not take precedence over us, but rather they are succeeding us. Therefore an era, in which we live, is called networked society, values are redefined every day, and these values have a decisive role in shaping our identity. In fact, today, the media have transcended geographical, cultural and political boundaries and by its growing and increasing expansion, it has gone beyond the socio-political sphere and has also affected the identity of contemporary human; in a way that, the identity of modern human can be called media identity. Therefore, more than any other time, there is a need for revealing identities and verification and acknowledgment of it by others within the network which can be employed as a fundamental force for understanding the world and introducing self to others. In the meantime, social networks from ۲۰۰۵ onwards have allocated most of the Internet users to themselves and by creating a virtual community and the like-minded groups they have played a great role in creating identity of the individuals. The present study, through the theoretical-analytical method, evaluates the role of these networks in creating and shaping people's identities.

کلیدواژه ها:

virtual social networks ، Identity ، virtual identity ، Cyberspace ، globalization ، Networked community ، Digital identity