Social networking services and online avatars have made the notion of identity far more complex, because the identities that people define in the social media are not necessarily the identities that they actually have. For example, several studies have shown that people lie about themselves in online dating profiles, or in communication with potential partners.
A person may feel that she is able to lie about her identity on the Internet because it creates a "mask" effect, where no one can see her "true self." Social theorists believe that whenever an individual interacts with others online, she portrays a mask of her identity, not her true identity. This is partly due to the fact that in some online contexts, such as Facebook, she must answer specific questions to create an online profile. Further, as she begins to interact with others, she adds more and more layers to her mask through the vocabulary she uses and the topics she writes about.
The kind of mask one chooses reveals at least something about the person who chooses it. While the online mask does not reveal the actual identity of the person, it does reveal an example of what lies behind the mask.

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