Most of the time I tell the truth but not the whole truth. I leave some stuff out that I don't want people to know. I see no reason to lie and for people to think that you are something else and if you get caught it would be very embarrassing.

I might make a story a bit more grandiose compared to how it originally happened, but I do that outside the internet as well. I like to think of it as showmanship instead of lying.

I've never been tempted to create a new persona because I've read stories of people who befriended someone online, only to discover months or years later that said person never existed. It was just someone that someone else made up and used to perform 'social experiments' with. I certainly withhold some information as well, but online that hardly seems like lying, more like a safety precaution.

Lying on sites like Twitter and Facebook to me is bizarre and kind of stupid. The majority of your friends will be people who know you in real life, and thus the ones most likely to get to the bottom of your lie. I imagine lying is much more common on websites like blogger and livejournal where the majority of friends will be strangers from the internet who will likely never be able to refute your claims of truth because they're miles away from you.

If lying by omission will be for the sake of this question be considered a lie then yes.
I have left out information when being asked questions of a personal nature. Concerning FaceBook and Twitter my profiles there are so limited that I wonder if anything at all might be gleaned from reading them so I have not even given myself the opportunity to lie.

I will leave out information when asked personal questions online as a measure of limited privacy protection.

Or am I lying now? Would a liar tell the truth when answering this question? I don't know. I try to be myself with no embellishment but when concerns about privacy arise I withhold some things just as I would do here in my hometown.

I basically tell the truth. I do have a pen name that I use to network and I leave a lot of stuff out because that is the whole purpose of the pen name.

Always tell the truth. I do rock after all. The only reason I even use a pen name is I don't like my real first name (Amanda) it's too common, plus Unwirklich Vin Zant sounds so much cooler..

I never understood people who pretend to be what they are not.

I tell the truth, but only the truth that I am comfortable having available to the public eye. While I am not modest, nor intensely private, I do think that there are certain things that should be shared only with those whom I truly want and intend to know about them. This does not usually include the spammer Twitter followers or a random Facebook friend that I have not actually spoken to since middle school.

I don't think that lying outright is ever the way to go. Again, because Twitter, FB, etc. are social forums, you never know when someone might catch you in a lie. Lying also sets expectations of you that you might never be able to meet in real life. I suppose if I wanted to, I could concoct an entirely new online self, and perhaps feel comfortable spinning a false background story and current behaviors, but between my job, Mahalo and studying for the LSAT, who has time?

As a rule I stick to the truth. Having said this I do not reveal all about myself. Just what is relevant to the discussion taking place.

I thing the point of social networking is building relationships. And there is no point in getting them to build a relationship with a fictitious person

Wouldn't the better question here be, Do you tell the truth about everything in Facebook and Twitter?

I think all of us lie about one thing or other online. We definitely have to be cautious what we share or how much we share and with whom.

One of the beautiful things about the internet is it allows us to be what we are not without fear of being found out otherwise. As an example, I am known as the bird by people online and I am more willing to say things here. In person I would be most likely to sit and watch the conversation and contribute from time to time.

Nope! If I did, I'm sure I would get caught quite quickly too. A lot of people who keep up with me on the internet know me in real life, so they'd likely call me out if I began embellishing. The internet is obviously still a rather anonymous place, but social networks and other things like OpenID are working to change that. I think I even read once that in Japan there is actually a social network that requires your social insurance number when you sign up! That would definitely end anonymity as we know it.

I tell the truth. The ones on my friends list know me and would know I was lying if I started doing that. So I see no reason to pick up that bad habit. I admit I am overweight and I admit I am 50 becasue I went to school with them and I have worked or now work with them and they all know the truth about me.

I'm always cautious when it comes to divulging my personal information online. I have a facebook account and I made sure that my profile is private and open to friends ONLY. I also set it not to allow search engines to index my profile page. When I need to enter financial information such as credit card when purchasing online, I always use an anonymizer for online anonymity.