Do we become a different person when we're in cyberspace?

“On the internet nobody knows you’re a dog” –Peter Steiner, The New Yorker.

When we create a facebook profile or set up a twitter account are we becoming someone else or being the person that we are? “Should we post our age and marital status? Should we make our profile private or public? Should we reveal that we're gay? (Data-crawling programs can make a pretty good guess about it even if we don't.) Should we boast on Twitter that we applied for a grant? Should we talk about the ravages of chronic Crohn's disease?” (Andy Oram, 2009)

Nobody really knows who they're talking to on the internet or who's profile they'e viewing. You can be anyone you want to be because of the freedom that the internet offers. Unfortunately this can sometimes be bad because it can be a great place for people to commit crimes such as identity theft and online grooming, which is more common amongst the teenagers and younger people that use the internet. 

However, because of the freedom that the internet offers I think that we can be ourselves a lot more or become someone that we'd want to be. When someone posts a status on facebook or twitter they can write it in any style that they wish, be it formal or informal. You can chose how people see you and therefore you can create an image for yourself. 

So, we do become different people online. We either have the confidence to be ourselves because we have a screen to protect us or we can become a person that we'd like to be.