Our aim in this context is to discuss the relationship between digital reputation (Hearn, 2010) and future to understand the benefits of managing digital reputation and the tools available to achieve this goal. An innovative strategy involves the use of immersive imagination ®. Imagination is the ability to shift attention from a proximal element to a distal one, which can be a memory, a future event, or a completely imagined reality, and then return to the present (Zittoun, 2017). Our intervention aims to explore the connection between imagination, immersive practices, digital reputation, and identity in the social context, investigating possible future scenarios. It aims to propose immersive imagination® (Ficara, 2023) as a media education strategy to address the theme of "social distance" in all its forms: injustice, inequality, and marginalization exacerbated by the transition to a global pandemic, the impacts of which will be observed (Saladino et al., 2020). Possible future developments of the increasing human-machine integration and its impact on self-perception, also in relation to others, will also be explored. Imagination is conceived as a universal practice capable of providing flexible tools for a reappropriation of one's real identity and an increase in social empathy. It is also capable, as a future practice, of guiding individuals to explore possible scenarios and emotions. Rooted in sensory stimulation, narrative immersion, and community participation (Gui, 2018), immersive imagination® draws inspiration from various sources: theories of mind, neuroscience (Rastelli et al., 2022), and also draws observations from the world of video games, which have played a fundamental role in the evolution of the concept of immersiveness (McGonigal, 2011). From a neuroscientific perspective, immersion involves sensory stimulation (Bohil et al., 2011), which elicits physical, physiological, and emotional responses, activates emotional centers, and fosters empathy (Damasio, 1995), enhances cognitive engagement and decision-making. In the context of digital reputation and social injustice, immersive imagination® assumes strategic relevance. Through structured preparation of the immersive experience, anticipation, and narrative guidance, immersive imagination® allows individuals to experience otherwise inaccessible experiences. By harnessing its potential to imagine future scenarios (Seligman, 2019), promote empathy, and guide decisions, institutions and educators can develop effective strategies to empower individuals and communities in the digital age.

The aim of the talk is to address the issue of the web reputation beyond the perspective of the “right to oblivion” or “right to be forgotten” more restricted within a juridical account. The question to answer is not only how to address web reputation after it is undermined. There is indeed something that is radically changed in the perception of the nature of the personal biography and consequently it is necessary to analyze web reputation within a more philosophical perspective.

Firstly we analyze the problem through the triple distinction between the real life identity RLI (or off-line identity), Media Identity (MI) and the Web identity WI (or on-line identity in the two meanings of 1. a temporary identity emerging from the activation of a specific, goal-directed and manipulable set of traces switched on by all new media, social network, web and real-life communication channel or 2. more generally the pattern of our identity generated by the recollection of traces and events available or accessible, displayed or displayable in the web domain).

Secondly we analyze web reputation within the philosophical theory of Documentality (Ferraris 2009) in order to emphasize the role of the universe of the traces thereby it is continuously registered in our mind’s world and in our life and the pervasiveness of this traced universe in the construction of our permanent and temporal RLI and WI1 and WI2. We will show that there is instrumental changement in the concept of digital identity that is affected by 1. traces ubiquity and availability without filtered and audience-sensitive accessibility; 2. traces equalization (traces of different period and different episodes of a life are equalized without any contextualization); 3. traces ad libitum and anytime switchability, displaybility, reawakening 3. digital information and data over-abundance in which is missed the relevance and the organization of the knowledge of the identity generating information overload and information relevance indifference; 4. Overexposure of traces of biography.

The more human and proper nature of biography is normally perceived and lived by subjects like a temporal evolution with many zones of different relevances and developments. It is also normally displayable in a gestaltic way with a figure-ground arrangement of events, action and contexts, a multi-layered arrangement of more hidden and more explicit sides, more private and more public dimensions. WI cancels totally privacy and life is externalized as a whole in whatever details and any sides can be exposed with the same level of importance, consistency and priority according to the necessity of communication and manipulation of the moment.

Eventually we remark that biography flipped and twisted from that gestaltic, more human arrangement to an a-gestaltic, overexposed, atemporal perspective in which every trace could be reawakened as a potential threat. This a-gestaltic overturn of identity is the effect of the back-impact of the features of the WI to the RLI. Therefore we have to more deeply analyze this a-gestaltic overturn of identity. This overturn is very suitable for the moralistic and instrumental use of traces by mass- and web-media.

From a sociological perspective, reputation is crucial for recognition processes, constantly balancing between the value we attribute to ourselves and the value that others collectively assign (Conte, Paolucci 2002; Mutti 2007). This field of forces, which shapes social interactions, can be both the origin and the result of inequalities (not all individuals have the same power as "reputation entrepreneurs") and can determine discriminants in access to resources and roles, and even in various forms of marginalization (Cavazza 2012; Conte, Paolucci 2002). In this dynamic model, the origin of people, the physical places where they were born and lived (Pizzorno 2007; Mutti 2007), the organizations they have frequented, the ideas they have adhered to, conditions either ascribed or acquired, also have their influence: elements with relational, social, and economic consequences on individuals. If reputation-related recognition practices contribute to maintaining a certain social order, those who represent the entrepreneurs of reputation, capable of defining both the qualifying elements and the qualified subjects, have the power to impact individuals' lives, regulating tensions and conflicts, creating scapegoats, indexing personal and institutional paths associated with a good or bad reputation (Pizzorno 2007; Mutti 2007). With every new dominant technology, the power system within society is also reorganized: the web's disintermediation, its network structure translated into virality, like free access, have not only made global fame possible through self-promotion but also the possibility of casting discredit on a global level, of condensing attacks, discontent, grievances, increasing or causing serious damage to an individual's reputation, with even dramatic outcomes.

Based on these premises, the contribution aims to expand the analysis of the impacts of new technologies on the social construction of identity, emphasizing the results from a multidisciplinary comparison that involved 24 experts, including scholars and professionals, on the theme of the reputational society in the digital age. The focus of this journey, which aims to identify the strategies of digital resilience that individuals and communities can adopt in the complex web of online reputation, centers on the different representations and practices of the self that, in the age of interconnections, where it is complicated to distinguish between online and offline, make reputation a relational good, in turn associated with social capital. The variations of the same concept in different fields should highlight the importance of an approach that takes into account the emerging ethical and social challenges, in an attempt to reflect on how digital practices influence the perception of self and others in a space that, albeit through aspects of continuity with the universe before the web, shows unprecedented characteristics, often at the origin of self-generated attacks and failures, which individuals increasingly exposed to the risks of a violation of identity, extensively, with reference to both the public and a potentially unlimited temporal period.

Web reputation is a recent topic in the field of sociology of communication. Largely used as an interpretive category in economics and marketing, web reputation has gradually emerged in the field of studies and research related to the digital risk society (Lupton 2014) and platform society (Van Dijck et al. 2018), which highlights the technological, cultural and social variables that intervene directly or indirectly in the reputation construction processes, in close connection with the management of identity, privacy and online relationships.

In particular, research that investigates the issue of web reputation in relation to the online behaviors of new generations also goes in this direction, both in reference to the processes of popularity construction and personal branding (Marwick 2013), as well as the psychological and social distress caused by cyberbullying phenomena, sexting, revenge porn, privacy violations, identity theft, and many others, which have negative effects on the reputation and dignity of the person (boyd 2014; Livingstone 2009). In this sense, web reputation management analysis proves very useful in intercepting young people's ability to "learn from mistakes", activate problem-solving strategies and increase their digital awareness (Savonardo, Marino 2021).

Starting from this premise and considering the debate on Internet risks and opportunities for young people, the paper focuses on the topic of web reputation in social media, and analyses GenZers’ web reputation management strategies on social network sites in relation to online risks such as cyberbullying, sexting, revenge porn, privacy violation and many others.

The study, based on an exploratory survey conducted in the Campania region (South Italy) during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021), describes the most relevant practices adopted by 500 young people aged between 14 and 23 to cope with risky online experiences with the aim of minimizing the harm received, and the role of key agencies (family, school, peers) in mediating risks and supporting coping strategies. This work is intended to be useful for reflecting on the possibility of viewing young people’s web reputation management strategies in relation to media education, drawing new considerations from the logic that rules the opportunities and risks dialectic arising from the use of social media.

We live today in a globalized and hyper-technological society that start a general process of increasing instability, including in the area of family relationships. Numerous research on the analysis of the most significant Italian socioeconomic phenomenon highlights how today's family contexts are always more digital, and the technology is integrated into the daily routine. ICT, domestic and edutainment technologies, and act to initiate family relationships by building and negotiating rules, norms, roles, identities and values, both individual and family. The time spent by children online, through the use of their smartphones, is a potential risk factor for parents and one of the main sources of worry. Children's use of technology requires parental mediation in a way that promotes safe and educationally relevant virtual experiences. The family with its relational unique stands on the side of real experience, but it cannot stand in opposition to the virtual. In these relational dynamics, it can confirm its authority presence and be able to orient its members to explore new contexts, offering new languages, meanings, and new routes so that the child can develop the ability to know how to consciously construct his project of life, even with the presence of new media. Parents must educate the child's autonomy and development of critical thinking; They are required to present themselves as credible educators, active mediators, able to dialogue with their children in a participatory way about the risks and opportunities offered by the Web. Today's family challenge consists in the ability to sustain the educational relationship with children in the continuous technological transformations. The family has an important educational role in the responsible and safe use of media. Parents need to know how best to understand and deal with children's vulnerabilities so that they can protect themselves from danger and enjoy the opportunities offered by the digital world.