Who do you want to be online

Lots of people play round with who they are online, either by pretending to be someone they’re not or by making up stuff about themselves that isn’t true. This is called ‘adopting a persona’. While it can be fun to try out different personas (or personalities) sometimes, it’s good to always think carefully about what sort of things you’re telling the world about yourself through your persona. Do you really want to be known as the person who’s always being rude to others online, or the one who only chimes in when they have something mean to say? Everything you post on the internet is there forever, so while you may think it’s funny to post a rude joke on someone’s page today, you might not think it’s so funny in a few months time – and remember that they might not think that it your joke is funny at all!

Adopting someone else’s identity
Pretending to be someone else online is called identity theft, and it’s a pretty serious thing. A good rule of thumb is to always treat people – both on and off-line – they way you would want to be treated. Ask yourself now: how would you feel if someone was pretending to be you online? Probably not very good!

Protecting your personal details
While it’s a good idea to always tell the truth about yourself online, there are some things you need to be careful about sharing. Click here to read about protecting your personal information online.