Online Identity Analysis

Rhiannon DeMartino

EDU 520: Digitally Mediated Teaching and Learning

Dr. Michele Herrera

Online Identity Analysis 1

Online Identity Proposal

With the change of people using more and more social media, social media can be used as

a professional platform. Using social media can either help someone create a positive digital

identity or a negative identity depending on what is being posted or shared. An internet identity is a

social identity that the Internet user establishes in online social media accounts or websites. When

a person is developing an online identity, people should assess the online identity of other people

on social media. This idea will give positive examples of how to perceive a good online identity

and make a person think about what not to do when they see the online identity of someone else on

social media. The purpose of this paper is to monitor all social media platforms of the two people I

have chosen who have a strong digital presence and evaluate them in order to get a better

understanding about online digital identity (Queens online, 2022).

Subjects and Platforms

The two people that will be evaluated are Angela Maiers and Jennifer Zangrandi. “Maier

was an educator for 30 years, Maier's work in 78,000 classrooms across 100 countries has rallied

more than a million children who have banded together to launch 170 social enterprises and pass

17 laws” (Premiere, 2022). Maiers is to be considered one of the most influential leaders in

education and transformative thinking. Maiers is someone who has a strong online identity

(Premiere, 2022). Maiers has Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and a website of her own,

just to name a few.

Jennifer Zangrandi is a special education teacher for grades 3-5 Pathways programs at

Smith Elementary School in New Britain, Connecticut. Before coming to Connecticut Zangrandi

taught special education in New York for three years before moving to Connecticut. Zangrandi
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started her career as an inclusion teacher in Smith Elementary School and then moved to the

Pathways program for children with intellectual disabilities. Jennifer uses her personal Facebook

account to share what is going on in education, to help fund her classroom, and to keep in touch

with a student’s parents she has had in the past.

Data Collection

In order to collect data properly, a spreadsheet has been composed in order to collect data

efficiently. The spreadsheet data that will be collected are comprised from Zwilling’s (2015) 6

Keys to a Positive Online Presence and Reputation. The methods used for collecting this data will

be monitored on a daily basis. In a variety of different social media platforms such as Facebook

and personal websites, along with a screenshot of the post that was created. What will be collected

is when the post was posted, what social media platform was used, a snapshot of the post, what

content was made, the impact the post had whether it be negative or positive, and if there were any

collaborators. To determine a person's digital identity, the posts that are being made can be seen as

a positive impact or a negative impact. Data will be placed into the following spreadsheet:

Date Platform Screenshot Content Impact Collaborator(s)

April 7th Facebook A quote from Positive No

Brooke
Hamptom
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July 16th Facebook Sharing a Positive No

birthday post
for a former
student

July 30th Facebook Sharing ideas Positive No

for activities
for children to
learn the
alphabet

August 8th Facebook Sharing Positive No

information
about the
school first
day of school

August 17th Facebook An interactive Positive No

idea to help
children sit
though
calendar
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August 22nd Facebook A positive Positive No

message
about the first
week back to
school

September Facebook Question to Positive No

8th ask yourself

September Facebook You matter Positive No

6th

September Twitter Response to a Positive Yes, Kevin

8th question Macias
Online Identity Analysis 5

February 9th Angela Blog post Positive No

Maiers Blog about “The
(website) Rules of
Show and
Tell Have Not
Changed”

This data sheet will make it easy to collect and evaluate the data that is being presented. The

impact of this data can be either a positive or a negative online identity of Jennifer Zangrandi and

Maiers who are being evaluated.

Analysis of Data

Angela Maiers

When looking at Angela Maiers’s profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and her personal website

you can see that they are very well put together and professional looking. She has professional

photos taken that are placed as her profile pictures, Maiers also has her website linked in her

profile, she also has listed that she works with schools, organizations and many different brands to

help spread change and hope through science and practice of mattering. Maiers has many followers

along with many posts on all forms of social media, for example on Twitter Maiers has 61,000

followers and 103,700 tweets. Maiers has many people who respond and share her posts on a daily

basis. For example, when looking through Maiers Twitter there were many instances where she

responded to questions from people who were responding to her original post. She kept her

responses very professional and informational.

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When looking at Maiers’s online presence, she has an impact when sharing her thoughts

and ideas. Through many of her posts on Twitter and Facebook she connects her posts to her

Choose2Matter campaign, different workshops that are going on, and different speeches she is

doing in order to create a professional online identity. Throughout her posts Maiers never shares

her political beliefs, religious beliefs or personal information on her professional social media

accounts and her website. “avoid extremist views or personal pictures that may portray you in an

unprofessional light, including vacation photos in skimpy clothing or news items that express an

extremist viewpoint” (Queens Online, n.d.), Maiers keeps all of her photos professional on her sites

and never shares any information or ideas that are unprofessional or offensive. On her website for

her campaign Choose2Matter she has many photos of children and school who are involved with

her campaign. Posting ideas that are unprofessional and offensive can impact the way people may

see your online identity and can impact the message they have been trying to share and the impact

it creates.

Jennifer Zangrandi

Jennifer Zangrandi only uses Facebook to communicate an online persona. Using her

Facebook Zangrandi shares many different ideas on teaching and inspiration quotes. Although her

photo is not professionally taken like a professional portfolio, Zangrandi shares many professional

ideas. Zangrandi shares very sporadically and rarely shares her own thoughts or ideas. Although,

Zangrandi does not post negative ideas or offensive content which shows that she does have a

professional online identity. The Queens University of Charlotte stated that personal and

professional accounts should be separate, to which Zangrandi only has one social media account.

Having two accounts, one being a professional account and another being a personal account could
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change their image to many people and employers who are doing a simple Google search on them.

“ 34 percent of employers admit to checking employees’ social media profiles, and not just the

professional profiles on LinkedIn or Google+” (Queens online, n.d.), this quote shows that almost

half of employers have checked on their employee’s social media profiles, so having professional

and private accounts are beneficial to many people.

Impact of PLE Development

Both of the people presented have a positive online identity, but Maiers has a more positive

online identity than Zangrandi. After analyzing the data that I have found I would want my digital

identity to be positive and professional. Having a positive identity can show many people and

future employers my skills and personality. “Developing a brand identity involves creating an

online persona that is multifaceted but would not stand in the way of a promotion, client

relationship or a position with another company” (Queens online, n.d.), this quote was perfectly

written, a person’s digital identity should not be seen as negative and hurtful. With this being said I

want to be careful of what I post on my personal social media accounts. I will also create two

accounts one being personal and another being professional. Having two separate social media

accounts can help kep my personal and professional lives separate from each other, keeping them

separate can increase opportunities to make professional connections.

In my PLE I will add my education and profession in an all about me page. I will definity

use Maiers’s personal summary as an example on how I should write about my professional and

educational background. I may also include my future goals and some of my leadership experience

from when I was in high school. Although this may not matter to many I feel it will show my

capability of being a leader and someone for others to look up to.

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Maiers does an excent job in constantly relating back to the same message, in my PLE I

would also like to keep relaying back to the same message. I am currently a special education

teacher, so the message I want to convey is about how important special education and children

with disabilities are. The more that people know about children with special needs the better of an

understanding they have of special education and how important it is. When writing about this

topic I can include links to different websites that may contribute to my postings such as the

Autism Speaks website or links related to special education laws, whether they be in my state or

federally.

When posting in the blog section, I want to make sure I am not posting anything that can be

viewed as offensive. I should also keep in mind that any photos that are shown should be real and

possibly in a professional setting such as my classroom. Maiers does an excellent job at keeping

her photos professional. On Maiers’s website there are many different photos from different

schools that are associated with her Choose2Matter movement.

Conclusion

With the inclination of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, it is

important to develop and keep a positive online identity for others to see. Many different

companies develop a positive online identity, in order to keep up with social media users. Creating

a positive online identity can help people get jobs and create positive online friendships for

business or professional use. Through the observation and analysis of Jennifer Zangrandi and

Angela Maiers it is clear to see that anyone can create an online identity through social media use,

and Zangrandi and Maiers have a positive online identity.

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Work Cited:

(n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2022, from https://www.facebook.com/jen.connorszangrandi

(n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2022, from

https://twitter.com/AngelaMaiers?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr

%5Eauthor

Angela maiers - founder and CEO - choose2matter | linkedin. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18,

2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelamaiers

Founder of the Global Choose2Matter Movement, A. of G. M. (n.d.). Angela Maiers. Angela

Maiers | Bio | Premiere Speakers Bureau. Retrieved September 3, 2022, from

https://premierespeakers.com/angela-maiers/bio

Maiers, A. (n.d.). We were created for significance. Retrieved September 18, 2022, from

https://www.choose2matter.org/

Personal & Professional Social Media Identity: Queens online. (2022, May 12). Retrieved

September 11, 2022, from https://online.queens.edu/resources/article/managing-personal-

vs-professional-identity-on-social-media/

Zwilling, M. (2015, August 7). 6 keys to a positive online presence and reputation. Entrepreneur.

Retrieved September 3, 2022, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/249053

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