In the digital age, everyone is a writer. The internet has put writing within the reach of everyone who has access to a computer, which is a very, very large number of people. Writing is more diverse and less consolidated than it has ever been in world history. This also offers individuals the opportunity to use online platforms to express themselves and build their individual identities in relation to the rest of the digital world. Here are some of the ways digital writing has changed writing as we know it, and has created the environment for the proliferation of identities that will continue to shape our forms of writing forever.

Globalization concept

Mobile Phone

Books On Shelf

Globalization concept

1/8

What the Internet

(and Multiple Identities)

Mean for Writing

Everyone is a writer. Once upon a time, in order to widely distribute your work you had to curry favor with someone in the publishing industry. Your writing had to be approved by people willing to take a risk on it, and it had to be judged as something that would appeal to the public. At the very least, you had to know someone with a printing press who was willing to help you out. While this system is still in place, it's easier than ever before to bypass it. With a few clicks and keystrokes, I can post whatever I want to say on platforms that are viewable anywhere in the world.

Writing is easily multimodal. Not only is everyone now a writer, it's easier than ever to mix multiple modes of media to create one multimodal text. Photos, images, and videos can be combined in most apps, easier than anything on the internet, and shared within seconds of creation.

Genre and audience are still the mainstays of writing, but the contexts have changed dramatically. Multimodal compositions with text, photos, and videos designed to reach a small audience of the author's friends can now go viral and be viewed by millions overnight. Anything you post something online can--without warning--reach a MUCH broader audience than you might ever have dreamed possible.

Genres are multiplying faster than you can say "digiphrenia." While some genres (like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) may fall under the broader genre of "social media," they each emphasize different aspects of social digital communication that gear them towards slightly different user bases. Twitter and Instagram are both popular social media sites, but they are different genres; twitter focuses on short bursts of text, while Instagram revolves around photos (and now brief videos as well). Every new social media platform is a new genre geared towards a specific exigence, whether it was actually an exigence to begin with or not.

Audience voices are much louder and provide more direct feedback, often visible to all who can view the original posted content. Printed writing relegated audience objections and approval to letters, which may or may not have been read or addressed. Audiences now have the ability to chew out the author via the comments section within minutes of the post, creating an immediate-response feedback loop. This impacts how the author thinks about what they’ve already written (and posted), and will control how the author attempts to cater to their audience in their writing. If an audience reacts badly to a certain topic or post, the author often knows immediately. As a result, they may be less willing to post about the topic in the future; they may see it as an opportunity for further thought and discussion; or, they may post more about it, in an attempt to stir controversy and gain readers.

Writers curate their work more carefully, with the awareness that it's reaching an immediate audience. They may choose topics more carefully, based on how they want viewers to see them. The author will likely be much more aware of how every piece and every comment they write fits into their representation of themselves as it already stands, which affects all future writing as well. Feedback is sudden and can come from anyone, regardless of level of expertise, lifestyle, or geographic location.

Context can be removed almost as soon as something is written, and be misrepresented elsewhere within minutes. Content can be deleted or edited moments after it was posted.

Comments can also be posted instantly. This creates odd social spheres in which people often become overly involved (to the intellectual detriment of all involved). Platforms like Youtube create cultures where it’s a thing to post comments declaring "FIRST" on every Youtube video, as if the world cares that that individual was the first person to watch it. This gets even more entertaining when five people do this at the same time, all believing that they were the first one to click on the video. Dramatic comment fights usually ensue.

Great! Now that we have all that outlining done, we can get to the actual discussion part!

Your Identity: Facebook?

Aren't you supposed to be prepping for the Avatar page?

Anonymity changes everything. You can be anyone on the internet, with a nebulous username and a few keystrokes. This can have many different psychological consequences, depending on the individual. Most notably, it can cause deindividuation, or a loss of self-awareness when protected by anonymity. Online, this manifests itself as the inability to recognize that digital beings are, in fact, other humans. Such a lack of awareness may result in dehumanizing comments and rants that people would never dare to say to someone's face. Anonymity leads to an increase in trolling, as some people get a rush from anonymously saying nasty things on the internet. It may also embolden others to talk about things they wouldn't normally discuss with someone face-to-face. Internet anonymity may initiate conversations between people who would never have met or talked in person, but have a common interest or question. The internet makes it simple to put on and perform any number of the psychological masks we wear on a regular basis. It also allows users to present themselves the way they want to be seen. This melting pot of motives inspired Alan David Perkins to write the 1995 play "Nobody Knows I'm a Dog," which features six different characters who hide behind internet anonymity.