There is an age-old saying: In the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog. It is commonly used as a reference to those who portray themselves, through various profiles, with altered images and a carefully constructed story, as something which, in real life, they are not. The construction of an alternative ego, a different personality slightly removed from reality is common to all Internet users regardless of age, gender or social position. Everyone wishes to be seen as something slightly better, something slightly different to what they really are, to appear more interesting, more attractive. It is an absolutely normal state of affairs, a human failing, if you will, which we all know, all practice and all accept.

Life in general would be a very boring event if there wasn’t a little bit of spice added somewhere along the line, be it the fascination of someone else’s experiences or their imagination, the unusual, the compelling, the fantastic. There is a difference, though, between the real with a few added details, a little enhancement, a touch of fantasy and a downright fake; someone who creates a profile on one or another of the many social media sites with the sole intention of fooling others for material or personal gain.

The number of fakes, of false profiles on social media sites, and their potential range of influence cannot be underestimated. Facebook has officially admitted that over eighty million accounts on its highly popular social platform may be considered as fake and it is likely that similar networks, including the micro-blogging site Twitter, could produce similar high figures. It is difficult to say whether individual accounts have been maliciously created or whether they are considered a mild prank by those using them when taking the numbers as a whole but, as a recent example on Twitter shows, their influence can be wide ranging.

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   The Internet, particularly through social media, enables us to put a positive "spin" on who and what we are. No one really wants to know we in reality wait tables to pay the rent or are not in reality full time marketers so we are not being "fakes" when we "put our best foot forward" in the image we cultivate through social media. However those who present themselves as some sort of "guru" when in fact they are not misuse social media. The most important element of social media is trust. No one trusts a "fake". We should always use a real picture of ourselves in our social media profiles, not some photo of a celebrity, a logo of some business we don't own or some other "avatar". We shouldn't give the impression we are Internet "millionaires" or promote income ops we know or suspect are "scams". The best way to get "likes", "followers", sales and referrals is to be honest, knowledgeable and passionate about what we share through social media. Don't "fake it until you make it", just be real.