Facebook is a community where people use their authentic identities. Authentic defined by Facebook standards, of course. Users are required to provide the name they use in real life; the reasoning for this is that, that way, you always know who you’re connecting with and apparently this helps keep the online community safe. Now the name I use in “real life” and what most people call me by may not be my given name, rather a pseudonym and according to the social network this can’t possibly be what I use in real life. So I’m left with five Facebook friends, because no-one can find me.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, once said using a Facebook alias shows a “lack of integrity”. Personally I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean. There are many reasons to want to use a different name, for example, political activists, victims of harassment/crimes and people in sensitive professions, like teachers.
Read the full Feminist Talk in GenderIT.org .