Privacy and Identity Management in Social Media: Driving Factors for Identity Hiding

Social networking media are becoming more widespread as educational learning sites. For this reason, it is important to investigate how concerns about identity management can interfere with or influence the planned learning processes. This chapter engages initially with current research that investigates the use of social media with a particular focus on issues of identity management. It then provides a close analysis of identity management among student users of dedicated Facebook pages in tertiary education settings, as part of a larger study into contextual language learning and the educational potential of mobile technologies and social media. The study concludes that issues around publically sharing information with classmates (whom you might or might not “befriend” on social media sites), and the exposure that comes with sharing one’s background and potentially contentious political views are probably experienced by students worldwide.