12 social media alter egos

Be it your social media personality or an alter ego, we each have one. This list could easily be created with social-scientific personality names such as lurker, moderator, or curator. But I’ve chosen to title them by their celebrity equivalents to personify the corresponding social media engagement traits.

Consider it a game: How many of the people you engage with online can you match with each personality?

1. The Hilton (Paris)

Carefully selects which conversation to join by assessing how their social status (or Klout score) will be elevated. Status seeking is their reason for being, and they appear only when it’s in their personal interest.

2. The Beck (Glenn)

Compelled to share their opinions about others’ content and state those opinions as “fact” and inherently right. Many times this person is a writer, author, or similar creative type who focuses on what he or she sees as the essence or meaning of the content, regardless of the audience.

3. The Jones (Star)

Confrontational by nature, a critic who challenges every thought for the sake of it or to exploit a situation. Arrogant to a fault. Motivated not by personal gain but by the sheer pleasure of challenging authority and peers.

4. The Maher (Bill)