Have you ever heard of “Multi Persona”? This means ‘multiple selves’, and ‘individuals expressing diverse identities transforming into different people according to situations.’ Now, it is no exaggeration to say Korea is in the age of multi persona. Ordinary people in everyday life as well as celebrities in various TV programs are creating their multi persona. Why do they make multi persona beyond their original one? And why are multi persona more actively used in Korean society now than ever before? Multi persona has a greater meaning just than ‘the second identity’, or ‘role-play’. And it is drawing attention as a major trend in 2021. Let’s learn about the arrival and features of multi persona in Korea with CAH.
The Emergence of Multi Persona: Perception Transition of Multiple Selves
The popularization of multi persona represents a perception change of modern society against multiple selves. In the past, society viewed negatively people who had more than one identity, calling them ‘a double-faced person/a Jekyll and Hyde’ or saying they had ‘dissociative identity disorder’. Nowadays, however, it is natural for an individual to have more than one identity. For example, Yoo Jae-seok from <Hangout with Yoo> shows various multi persona such as a character “Jimmy Yoo” and “Yoo San-seul”. Also, the rapper Mad Clown and a comedian Choo Dae-yeob gained huge popularity under the names of “Mommy Son” and “Copy Choo”. This is the same for ordinary people. They create a second Instagram account to post their paintings, music, poems, and upload articles or movie reviews on their personal blogs. This change in social awareness of multi persona has become an opportunity for the appearance of more multi persona, and this creation and consumption of multi persona is still ongoing actively in Korea.
Why Do People Want to Make Their Multi Persona?
A Way of Self-realization
Why do people want to make their multi persona? According to a survey conducted by Job Korea and Albamon among 1,795 adults, ‘another self-expression’ topped the list with 43.7 percent when asked ‘The reason people want to have multi persona.’ To people who have various hobbies and interests, only one identity is too confined to express them everything. Multi persona allows free role-play to express all of these interests, just like changing masks. And in this process, an individual can achieve various sides of self-realization. In 2020, pop culture critic Jung Duk-hyun said, “This year, content dealing with the world of multi persona has been very popular, and it led to real life changes because of the desire of individuals who have been suppressed by the workplace to find and reveal another aspect of themselves.” We all live playing a certain role in a particular position in society. However, multi persona allows people to be away from this fixed life role and be anyone they want. For modern people who pursue a “work-life balance” and “small but certain happiness”, the original identity at work and school is no longer enough for them. They can show various sides of themselves and that’s why people make their multi persona.
An Escape from Other’s Criteria
Multi persona can be an escape from the external anticipation. Have you ever heard of the “Guesthouse Party Effect”? This expression comes from the fact that a person can tell their honest and deep stories to people met in a guest house far away more easily than to people around in their daily life. And with our online profiles these days it’s even more likely that our personal information spreads out. Therefore, if one feels ashamed or reluctant to show their true self to hundreds of friends on social media, they can create their multi persona through a second account and express their true self. “Trend Korea 2020” by professor Kim Nan-do describes that "Ironically, social media users experience the guesthouse party effect of expressing their ideal self more easily and freely to strangers than their true self." The multi-profile service released by Kakao Talk on January 28th is also related to this. Multi-profile is the service to set up up to three additional profiles in addition to one’s basic profile. You can set particular friends per profile. According to The Korea Economic Daily, a Kakao official said, “We reflected users’ voices that it is necessary to have profile set up and expose suits with respective relationships while interacting with others in various relationships, not just one Kakao Talk profile.” And added, they analyzed the trend of multi persona. As such, multi persona enables people to show what they want to show and to whom, and express their true self away from other’s criteria.
What Multi Persona Brought to Society: Multiple Job Holders
Instability of employment and changes in working environment caused by COVID-19 have led to the emergence of people holding multiple job. People realized that they could not be guaranteed a "job for life" even if they had studied so hard, got the certificates and licences, and eventually got a good job. So, they started to find their aptitude and things they wanted to do but couldn't because they were pushed back on the priority list due to getting a ‘normal’ job. In addition, as time after work increased with the 52-hour workweek, people started to use this time to make their hobbies into their multi persona. They are office workers during the day, but after work, they become people with various jobs, including solo content creators, teachers, designers, and writers. Sometimes acquiring certificates as a part of self-development or sharing hobbies with many others leads to the creation of value such as talent sharing and sales, and becomes the second job. Similarly, if the work of a multi persona earns more profit than the main job, it becomes their main job. According to Seoul Economic Daily, the freelance market "kmong" recorded more than double in the number of expert registrations in 2020 compared to 2019, and more than half of them were "hybrid-type experts" who do office work and freelance work in parallel. In other words, besides the original identity in work life, they also work as a freelancer, making their multi persona. As such, the influence of COVID-19 and the perception change that one can have various jobs over one’s life made the emergence of multiple job holders possible by creating multi persona.
Multi persona represents a world of possibilities. As the word "persona" itself means, one can show another side of oneself honestly by wearing different multi persona masks. They can discover and express another possibility within themselves. The significance of multi persona is never small at this point in time when the perception of multiple selves and the perspective of the job is changing. CAH is looking forward to the future of multi persona, which allows people to find and express their many selves in this changing society.