【Science Fiction Archives】

This post is Science Fiction Archivespart of Me, online, Mashable's ongoing series digging into online identities.

I have a confession to make: I'm a Slytherin on Twitter.

Yes, it's true.

I'm a full-blown Ravenclaw in real life, and yet somehow, on Twitter, I code switch into the most Slytherin version of myself.

I'm kind of mean, sort of conniving, and somewhat power-hungry in the way I keep track of my follower count. I also don't particularly care about being liked on Twitter as long as I'm respected, and I'm willing to call people out if they're being boneheaded in my timeline.

But I'm not a Slytherin everywhere on the internet.

I tend to transform depending on the social media platform I find myself on. You probably do, too. After all, Twitter is, in many ways, designed to bring out the Slytherin hidden within even the most Hufflepuff-aligned of its users.

The platform encourages brevity above all else, with nuance killed at the expense of easily processed opinions. And the anonymity of the service gives folks all kinds of license to be conniving jerks.

That said, I'm for sure a Hufflepuff on Instagram. It's pretty much the only place online where I post photos of my family, and I'm not stingy with my "likes." I pretty much give love to any photo I find fun.

Meanwhile, Facebook feels designed to encourage people to talk to friends and acquaintances in a relatively real way. The algorithm has recently doubled down on this strategy, feeding top posts into the newsfeed that get comments and engagement.

This encourages users to post opinions unapologetically, standing up for what they believe and, to some extent, starting arguments in the comments when there's a disagreement. Sounds a lot like a brave Gryffindor's MO, yeah?

Look, I'm not saying everyonealigns with the identities I adhere to on each of these platforms, but thinking about them in this way has helped me come to terms with myself on the internet.

In real life, I'm pathologically myself. You can put me in pretty much any situation, and I'll basically act the same way I always do. But on the internet? That doesn't always work out.

Some platforms call for different versions of my personality, so instead of fighting that fact, sorting myself into the Hogwarts houses has helped me accept it.

Maybe it could do the same for you.