Introduction
How you present yourself online can have a lasting personal and professional consequence. Everything that gets posted online can be shared and saved between people and is there forever. Whether you are posting a story while on vacation or sharing a work update on LinkedIn, your digital identity speaks for you. An important question when thinking about your digital identity, both personal and professional, is: How do we balance the two sides? It is important to find a good balance while staying true to who you are.
Personal vs. Professional Digital Identity
What is Digital Identity?
Digital identity is an individual’s presence online. It is the trace they leave behind when using any website or platform. This identity can be either hidden or public, and how you choose to present yourself often depends on the app or site you are using. Digital identity can show up in many different forms, like an Instagram profile or a username commenting on a Reddit post. Most people have several digital identities across different accounts. For example, I use my Instagram account mainly for close friends and family, so I keep it private. On the other hand, I use LinkedIn for future jobs and employers, so I leave that account public. I also change what I post depending on who I know will see it. I share more personal things on Instagram, where only close friends can see, while LinkedIn is more professional and work-related.
How Do I Differentiate Between the Two?
I keep my accounts separate based on how I use them. I also change my privacy settings. On Instagram, my account is private and people have to request to follow me. I have attached below a helpful video that shows how to change your Instagram privacy settings if you want to make your account more private.
Privacy settings
Think before you post
It is also important that every time I post, I think about who I am posting for and who follows me. Even if my account is private, I still stop and think before I post anything. When I post on LinkedIn, I think more about what future employers might think. On Instagram, I might post something more casual since it’s just for close friends. I found a great poster that uses the word THINK to help you decide whether to post something online. It includes five questions you should ask yourself before posting. This is a good reminder for both personal and professional accounts.
Why Boundaries Matter
Maintaining boundaries online and ensuring that my online presence aligns with my personal and career goals is important. It’s important that I keep personal and professional digital identities separate because they serve different purposes. Without boundaries, it can lead to misunderstandings, privacy issues, or even missed opportunities. My identity reflects who I am in everyday life, my interests, sports and relationships, whereas my professional identity shows my skills, experience and goals. Keeping them separate helps me make sure that future employers see a version of me that aligns with my career path without mixing in content that’s just meant for family and friends. By setting clear boundaries, I can protect my online reputation and stay focused on my goals. It allows me to be myself while still being mindful about what I post and who sees it.
My Digital Visitor and Resident Map
The visitor and resident model is about thinking about how we interact and use different websites and apps. It looks at how we behave online and the trace of ourselves that we leave. A visitor is someone who goes online and leaves little to no trace of themselves. An example would be searching something up on Google and you don’t log in, but just search something up and leave. Residents have a visible presence online that stays over time. Creating content and interacting with others online are examples of what a resident does online that makes them visible. Below is my digital presence online based on how I use apps as a visitor or resident and if I use those apps for professional or personal use.
| Platform | Visitor or Resident | Purpose |
| Resident | Stay connected with friends and post photos of my favourite places or people. | |
| Good Reads | Visitor | Keep track of books I’ve read and find new reading suggestions. |
| Snapchat | Resident | For daily communicate through photos and videos and groupchats with multiple friends. |
| Visitor | To search for information quickly. | |
| Visitor/Resident | For inspiration, ideas or saving crafts for future use. |
Seeing where each app falls on the visitor/resident scale helps me understand how I present myself online and where I leave a digital footprint. It also reminds me why boundaries are important on the different apps that I use.
As I grow and my personal and professional goals change, I think my digital visitor and resident map will also shift. Some platforms I currently use for personal reasons like Snapchat and Instagram, might become less important to me over time. I have already started to notice this change as fewer and fewer people I know are using these apps regularly. I think apps like iMessage and WhatsApp will become more dominant in my daily communication, especially for staying connected in more private and direct ways. I also expect to become more active on professional platforms like LinkedIn, depending on what field of work I go into. When I begin to think about jobs after university, I know LinkedIn will be more useful, especially if I go into a business-related career. My online presence will become more focused on professional networking, and that shift will naturally affect how I use and prioritize different apps. I believe I will also encounter new apps for these different uses, and these will appear in new ways on my digital map.
Conclusion
Creating a digital identity that reflects both who I am personally and who I want to be professionally takes thought and balance. Through the visitor and resident model, I have been able to see how my online presence shifts depending on the app and its purpose. It is important to know who I’m sharing with and why. By keeping my accounts separate, adjusting privacy settings, and thinking before I post, I’m learning to keep my privacy while still being authentic online. Understanding my digital identity helps me set boundaries, stay focused on my goals, and build a presence consistent with my reputation that represents me both now and in the future.