Rebecca MacKinnon Quotes

I've got a Facebook page, but I've never put anything on it. I've got a presence on all the social networks, in fact, but I've never once sent a message. I'm there because, otherwise, someone's going to pretend to be me.

I find it difficult to believe that Redditors don't understand that anonymity online is merely a facade; indeed, it's probably one of the reasons that revealing the identity of pseudonymous Redditors is looked on as such a huge betrayal.

I've got a presence on all the social networks, in fact, but I've never once sent a message. I'm there because otherwise, someone's going to pretend to be me.

The nature of the internet is that you don't know who is behind the screen.

There's this weird thing that happens when you contribute something to a static profile. You have to worry about how this new content fits in with your online persona that's supposed to be you. It's uncomfortable and unfortunate.

Facebook has a rule that you're not supposed to be anonymous.

I don't want to be on the Internet.

I have done a pretty good job of partitioning my life digitally, posting utterances and stories that I'm happy to share with anyone on Twitter, leaving a few sparse comments and 'Likes' on Facebook (I'm not a huge user of the service, I'll be honest), and sending any number of photos to thousands of 'followers' on Instagram and Tumblr.

It's insane that people have these Internet identities. It has very little to do with who we really are. As a writer, who I'm friends with, how I spend my time, what I look like, what I wear, what I eat, what kind of music I like - it's totally not important to the work.

More and more, the things we do in real life will end up as Facebook posts. And while we may be consoled by the fact that most of this stuff is being posted just to our friends, it only takes one friend to share that information with his or her friends to start a viral chain.

It's very rare that things are true about yourself that are on the Internet. It's just sad sometimes. So you definitely try and stay away from it as much as possible.

I'm easy to find on the Internet.

I didn't necessarily intend it for myself, but it just happens with Instagram and Twitter; people come up to me and call me Emrata; they don't call me Emily. That's my brand, my identity.

You won't be exiled to permanent unemployment just because there's a picture somewhere of you holding a red Solo cup and looking underage. But, your Google results tell a story: Have you been in the news? Authored articles or blog posts? What types of topics do you frequently tweet about?

Social media really makes it tricky for people sometimes because you go, 'Oh, it's awesome. I'm gonna play this character. I'm going to do this really weird thing on camera,' and then you go back and read all your tweets and go, 'Mmm, well, I guess they didn't like that so much.'

The problem of online identity is expressed best in an old 'New Yorker' cartoon with a picture of a dog next to a computer, and the dog says, 'No one online knows you're a dog.'

I do not have a Facebook page, and I do not chat on Twitter. I don't have a web site, even if there are people who have opened one in my name, complete with my photo.

On YouTube, I've stayed very limited with what I've been willing to share, so it's been very surface-level with Miranda.

I just love social media. I love that you can create your own image of yourself.

There's more of me on Twitter than there is in real life.

I think social media is a slippery slope because while you're projecting something out to people, they also project back onto you what they want to see.

Being in the public eye, with the Internet - it's scary. You can put out too much, and it becomes a part of the pie chart of who you are. Things stick. And they never go away.

Social media should be a true sense of who you are.

You don't even know if the person you're communicating with online is actually that person. And your persona on your social media - your Facebook or Twitter - may not be the person you are in real life. So then, who is the real person? Is it somewhere in between?

Media cycles end, but the Internet never forgets. This is a valuable lesson, especially for college students.