I find face to face introductions are handy in that the entire room will pay attention to one person talking, while on Zoom, it's hard to know what students are actually looking at/paying attention to. On the other hand, Zoom does have the perk of having each student's name right there on their video, and having all the students "up front" and unable to hide in a back corner opens the space to everyone equally.
One introduction-item that has worked well for me in a Zoom class setting is to have all the students answer a question while taking attendance. Questions can take the form of more serious class-related topics if needed (such as "how is your first draft going?"), but I often use goofy ones such as "What is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?" to lighten the mood and get students more comfortable with each other. I think spreading the introduction questions out over the course of the semester can be especially helpful for forgetful people like myself, who despite best intentions tend to forget many of the details that students shared in the first class.
One introduction-item that has worked well for me in a Zoom class setting is to have all the students answer a question while taking attendance. Questions can take the form of more serious class-related topics if needed (such as "how is your first draft going?"), but I often use goofy ones such as "What is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?" to lighten the mood and get students more comfortable with each other. I think spreading the introduction questions out over the course of the semester can be especially helpful for forgetful people like myself, who despite best intentions tend to forget many of the details that students shared in the first class.