-How many online identities do you have? What are they like?
-In what ways are they different to your "in person" identities?
-What are some benefits of expressing one's identity online?
-What are some risks?

I have about 5 online identities. They are Lingnan Account, MSN, Hotmail, Facebook, Xanga. MSN is for chatting, while Lingnan Account and hotmail is for recieve and send information. For Facebook and Xanga, i think they are some kinds of blog. Usually I may hide my birthday year, Identity card no., cell photo no. and other personal information. For Xanga and MSN, i use fake names.

By using identity online, I can make friends. For example, Facebook can help others find me and add me as friend. At the same time, friends can get the latest news of mine. They can check up my texts in Xanga, Facebook, and reply their feelings or advice to me. Besides, I can recieve relevant messages from schools, companies, and friends by using Hotmail,Lingnan Portal.

However, identity online has its risk. First, people who hate you leave negative comments on your blogs, causing cyber-bullying. Second, it may affect the employment opportunity. Nowadays, employers check the interviewees' facebook, twitter, myspace, etc., in order to know more about their personal life, and  decide on the employment. Furthermore, hackers can take personal information from identity online, and use for illegal purpose.

As the result, we should not explore ourselves too much in identity online.For example, we should not put personal address, Identity card number, passport number, credit card number, etc., to prevent others stealing the information. We should find trusted identity online, so that we can take benefits from it.