Online personas and authenticity

At #tweetwyo last night, we got into a pretty vibrant discussion about whether filtering web content was somehow masking who you really are. The consensus was that there’s a place for professional decorum, even on the internet and a place for personal information.

I think it’s an even bigger issue than just a matter of personal v. private decorum. It’s about nuance and information sharing. It really depends on what purpose the social web serves for you. For many of us who have connections to higher ed, we’re often attached to more than one profile and it’s another reason to be conscientious of our audiences. Even if you’re speaking for “yourself” there are people who will quote you on the name of your institution or job. “Bob of New York Widgets says that he hates New York.” Injuring the corporate brand is an inherent risk.

“Should personal content on a personal profile really be used in a punitative way in a professional setting?” If your boss reads your Facebook profile, should it be able to get you fired? If you tweet a message about something, should it result in a public flogging all over the web?

Most agree that it probably shouldn’t. But it doesn’t matter. People still take things out of context personally. If a blog post can even be construed as being negative or directed at someone, the mea culpas will have to be distributed, sometimes “just in case.”

So what do you about? Is separating your professional and personal life inauthentic?

No. It’s a survival tactic in a world where not everyone knows you. While it can be empowering to blog all of your feelings in the off chance that someone, somewhere will read about it and care, it’s a risky move.

For me, Twitter is about networking. LinkedIn has a networking component, though the bar is set a bit higher and Facebook is for people I have existing relationships with and even that’s on a case-by-case basis. The lines are far too blurred and all you need is something to happen.

The key to social networking is realizing that 1) you’re not alone and 2) nothing is private.

The Web & The People

One of the struggles I’ve long had about blogging higher ed is the fact that it’s just one facet of a wellspring of things that interest me. I’m clearly not unique in this pursuit, but part of the issue is something I’ve struggled with a lot lately.

It’s this idea that you become so invested in what’s going on behind the screen, that you stop to forget that there is an actual world out there, one that you’re quite fond of and with people that you don’t mind dealing with either. I’ve begun to interface more in the way of actually participating in dialogues, debates, discussions and presenting more. But it’s bigger than that.

It’s to the point where I’ve come to feel like my talents are best served in a much more public facing way. As in, dealing with people on a day to day basis. How that gets demonstrated is still up in the air, but I feel like what I’m most passionate about — and the skills that I have which I don’t use as much as I’d like to — get lost and as a result, aren’t as sharp as I would like them to be.

I think it all comes down to knowing what you are best at. And for me, it’s not talking straight about the web. It’s all of those blurry lines in between. It’s a true live mash-up. Not something I talk about or draw a wireframe of, but actually live, breathe and experience.

One of my biggest challenges in recent weeks is trying to find my blogging voice again. It’s just difficult to really put out there all of the random thoughts that come to mind. Sure some of them probably have no business being blogged at all, but there are all sorts of well-thought, well-conceived ideas that never make it to my fingers to be typed, because I second-guess myself out of them.

That’s not really your issue (that is, if you’re even reading this far..) but it’s something that I’m committed to slog through, as I continue to expand and develop this blog further. I think there has to be a way in which the intersection of the ideas that I started branching out reach their audiences and where I become less constrained about sharing my perspective about things that I’m ruminating about.

After all, the whole idea behind my doing this was to create dialogue, to share ideas and of course, to pick some new ones along the way. It’s been great for some of it, but I feel like I’m just scratching the surface…so I’m gonna work on that.