Privacy-based identity

1. A method for representing a user identity within an online system, comprising:

receiving a request for a user identity of a user of the online system from a viewer;

retrieving a status of the viewer with regard to the user;

based on the status of the viewer, determining a representation of the user identity; and

providing the representation of the user identity to the viewer,

wherein said determining comprises associating at least one of two or more levels of privacy with the viewer based on the status of the viewer,

wherein the user identity comprises one or more elements, each element describing a characteristic of the user, and at least some of the elements comprise two or more definitions related to different levels of privacy, and

wherein the representation of the user identity comprises, for each element of the user identity, one of said definitions based on the level of privacy associated with the viewer, wherein said one or more elements include a visual representation of the user.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining further comprises using a rule-based system to choose the representation of the user identity.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the user modifies at least one rule of the rule-based system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the viewer is another user of the online system and said status of the viewer with regard to the user is determined based on an affiliation within the online system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the online system is a social network.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said definitions of the visual representation of the user comprise at least one of an icon, a photograph, and a live stream of a video stream of the user for respective levels of privacy.

7. An online system, comprising at least one computing device comprising computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon, wherein said instructions are configured to cause the computing device to implement:

a first input interface accessible by a viewer, wherein the first input interface is configured to generate a request for a user identity of a user of the online system based at least in part on input received from the viewer;

a processing component configured to retrieve a status of the viewer with regard to the user and, based on the status of the viewer, to determine a representation of the user identity; and

an output interface accessible by the viewer, wherein the output interface is configured to provide the representation of the user identity to the viewer,

wherein said processing component is further configured to associate at least one of two or more levels of privacy with the viewer based on the status of the viewer,

wherein the user identity comprises one or more elements, each element describing a characteristic of the user, and at least some of the elements comprise two or more definitions related to different levels of privacy, and

wherein the representation of the user identity comprises, for each element of the user identity, one of said definitions based on the level of privacy associated with the viewer, wherein said one or more elements include a visual representation of the user.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein said processing component is further configured to use a rule-based system to choose the representation of the user identity.

9. The system of claim 8 , further comprising a second input interface accessible to the user, the second input interface configured to allow the user to modify at least one rule of the rule-based system.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the viewer is another user of the online system and said status of the viewer with regard to the user is determined based on an affiliation within the online system.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the online system is a social network.

12. Computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon, wherein said instructions when loaded and executed by a computing device cause said computing device to implement a data structure representing a user identity of a user of an online system, comprising:

one or more elements, each element describing a characteristic of the user,

wherein at least some of the elements comprise two or more definitions of the respective characteristic, and

wherein each definition is related to a different level of privacy,

wherein said definitions are based on a level of privacy associated with a viewer, and

wherein said elements include a visual representation of the user.