Digital Identity Meaning
Digital Identity is composed of traceable data–attributes and activities including usernames, passwords, browsing history and activities such as your likes and clicks, purchasing history and activities such as hotels you booked, products you purchased, and food you ordered, demographics such as age, date of birth, gender, and other information you have posted on the internet, and other preferences, transactions, and activities that are uniquely assigned to a specific individual, organization, business, or electronic device which purely exists online or on the internet. This can be related to one’s online profile, online identity, internet identity, and digital footprint.
Generally, digital identity is the internet and online counterpart of the personality of people in the real world. Therefore, it is composed of very broad information about a specific entity.
Digital Identity vs Real Identity
Your digital Identity is not exactly the same as your real identity for a number of reasons. For one, your digital profile is only based on what you enter in forms or in systems, therefore you can easily lie about it. Also, digital activities such as your likes and clicks are subjected to interpretation by different algorithms, so there is room for correct or incorrect interpretations. Therefore, some parts of your digital identity can be controlled and some are not but both affect the authenticity of your digital identity.
For example, on Facebook, it is up to you to enter your birthdate and when you lie about it, your digital identity is not exactly the same as your real identity. Also, when you like a particular Page based on a request from a friend, Facebook interprets that you actually like that page and related pages, which may or may not be true.
However, your digital identity is something that you have to be very careful about since whatever is in the internet about you, from big things such as your own account or your location to small things like your messages, reactions, and where your name appears are all recorded and can be traced back to you especially now that pictures and screenshots are accessible widely used. It will be hard to lie about what you exactly said or what you clicked on since everything is recorded and can be viewed by many people. All of these can bring benefits and disadvantages to you therefore, should be treated carefully.
Digital Identity in Businesses
At first, digital identity was only important to individuals. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic happened not only in the Philippines but worldwide, all of us had to adjust and one of the major adjustments is the shift of every activity into online and digital platforms. With this major change, not only individuals were affected but businesses too, in fact many businesses suffered. This pandemic is surely not the best thing that happened to the world but when we felt like we had no choice but to shift to online and digital, new and innovative opportunities entered the picture.
The power, opportunities, and ease that digitization offers are also granted to businesses. Digital Identity in businesses not only talks about the image and the social media branding that businesses have but more importantly, focuses on the organization, management, and transactions that serve as the attributes that are connected and related to the businesses through digital and online platforms.
For instance, how easy and reliable it is to transact or order online with a fastfood chain says a lot about the brand just as much or even more than what is portrayed in social media mainly because this is the motivation or the reason why the same customer would want to transact with the business again. Therefore, the digital identity of a business is greatly concerned with the ability of a brand to make the most out of the innovations of technology in order for life to be easier for all the people involved with their business including their employees, investors, and most importantly, their customers.
The Future of Digital Identity
There was a huge spike in the number of people who recognize and believe in the importance of digital identity and of being able to catch up with technological advancements when the COVID-19 pandemic left all of us with no choice. Many are looking forward to the new normal but, we never really know what this looks like. We do not know if we are already at what is going to be normal in the years to come. But one thing is certain, the direction of the advancement of technology is in no way backwards but it continues to go forward at a speed faster than we imagine.
Although digital identity is not exactly the same as our real identity, its importance and value has been increasing day by day and will continue to increase in the days to come. With all the uncertainty that the pandemic taught us, we should know better now in terms of being ready for whatever the future holds. Businesses and individuals need to be ready in order to protect themselves.
Protecting Your Digital Identity
With the great importance of digital identity and its implications in the lives of people, our businesses, and organizations, the direction of the trend of growth tells us that avoiding digitization is not a good investment for anyone. The only way is to be smart and be protected in managing our digital identity and everything that comes with it including our data, transactions, and operations. The key to protection in the digital world is choosing the right provider. One that is reliable, secure, simple, and future-ready.
Contact PhilIT, if you are ready to be future-ready.