Are and Briggs move beyond the familiar diagnosis of “context collapse” by examining people who deliberately merge otherwise incompatible occupational selves online. They call this strategic process context collusion. Through five case studies and an autoethnographic conversation, the paper shows how platformisation, creator economies and labour precarity alter the management of professional identity. Public self-presentation is no longer simply about keeping audiences separate; some users collapse both context and content in order to reduce secrecy, expand opportunities, connect different forms of work and achieve greater coherence across fragmented careers. Methodologically, the study privileges situated accounts of identity labour rather than assuming that boundary maintenance is always desirable. The resulting tension is infrastructural: platforms reward visibility and self-branding while workplaces often retain older expectations of reputational separation. The paper bridges occupational psychology with platform studies and labour theory. Identity management appears as work performed under conditions set jointly by institutional norms, algorithmic visibility and precarious economies.
