ISLAMABAD: A scholar of Allama Iqbal Open University has conducted a PhD research to find out the reasons behind social media users creating fake identities.
Talking to APP, Chairman Department of Mass Communication AIOU, Prof Dr Saqib Riaz said that PhD scholar Sohail Taj studied the phenomenon of fake identity creation on social media and the “findings confirmed” that most fake identities were created to “seek pleasure”.
He said it was a quality research dissertation, evaluated by two international reviewers Yaqin Lu, Associate Professor at Bowling Green State University Ohio, USA, and Edward Carter, a professor at The Brigham Young University School of Communications Utah, USA.
Sharing details about his research, Sohail Taj said that “people have a lot of imagination”, which they were unable to fulfil in real life, therefore they create a false identity on social media to “quench their desires”.
He said university students were surveyed to analyze how users of social media construct their identities. It was found that several social media users lie about their relationship status, political views, about their personalities and also use unreal photos.
He informed that 18 indicators were defined in the research to observe the motives for fake identities creation.
He further said the research would not only help the policymakers in the legislative process but it would also help consumers of social media to understand the behaviours of others.
RE-ELECTED AS MEMBER EXECUTIVE BOARD AAOU
Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has been elected as a member of Executive Board of the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) for the third consecutive time for a span of three years (2023-2025).
Elections are held after three years to elect the Board members, said a press release issued here Sunday.
It is to mention here that the Association was formed in 1987 and the AIOU was among its five founding members.
The Association’s elections were held yesterday in which an 8-member cabinet was elected.
The AIOU’s recent initiatives such as digitization, e-registration of tutors and collaborative projects with known international universities have provided it a high position in the world, especially among the open universities of Asian countries.
The AAOU has highly appreciated these initiatives and expressed their desire to follow the footsteps of AIOU specially in digitization.
Not a single Vote was casted against the AIOU.
Director, International Collaboration and Exchange, Dr Zahid Majeed represented the Vice Chancellor, Allama Iqbal Open University, Prof Dr Ziaul Qayyum on this occasion.
