Abstract
Digital identity has become a central concept in understanding how people’s online presence is shaped and made sense of. Although extensively studied, the prevailing focus has been on how online identities are shaped by digital platforms or how users curate and perform these identities. How users perceive and assess this concept, however, has received comparatively less attention. In this article, we take a qualitative, user-centric approach to the meaning of digital identity, drawing on insights from 17 online focus group discussions involving 86 participants in Portugal. We identify three distinctive understandings – digital identification, self-presentation, and the datafied self – each corresponding to specific facets of users’ online experiences. Our findings underscore the multidimensionality of digital identity, highlighting its dynamic nature and potential for ongoing reinterpretation. This work contributes to the existing literature by highlighting how the concept’s ever-expanding complexity relates to people’s sensemaking practices about identity, agency, and digital platforms in datafied societies.
Published Version
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