Apparently, I have a couple of friends who cyberstalk me, particularly through this blog. (They're close friends, one of whom I've known for 20 years, so they have full cyberstalking rights.) But I got mixed reviews from them, in person, about my previous post about confidence/competence/self-assuredness. So I should ask my dear friends who cyberstalk me (you know who you are): While I do appreciate your comments in person as we're eating lunch, I have to ask, nay beg, even, that you post comments here, too. (Carol is very good at this. Thank you, Carol!)
AND this brings us to our next topic: Online Identity Creation.
Recently, I've been conducting informal research on how people present themselves online. While word-of-mouth is one way to build a reputation, another way is to deliberately shape online one's identity in whatever light one wishes to do so. For instance, someone who wants to find "Ana Krahmer" online, can pretty easily verify where I work, what I do in my job, and what topics of discussion interest me. But, out of all this information, in reality, the only thing that is verifiable is where I work because I'm listed in the staff directory there. My worlds sometimes merge, as I describe in the first paragraph, where a close friend will poke around my blog out of curiosity about what I'm discussing, but sometimes, I'll get an email inquiry about something I've discussed in the blog. But what I find interesting is, I have never received questions in email based off of the staff directory at work.
I don't really know what that says, beyond that you have to be very deliberate about what goes up online about yourself. Do you want to set out to establish yourself as a software developer? A system engineer? A graphic designer? Then make for darned sure that everything on the Internet that pertains to you relates, also, in some way to how you want your identity to be represented.
I mean, I don't care if people know that I consume any kind of book as some people consume candy, or that I can be a complete grammar snob, but these aren't things I'm really developing my online identity around. And, although I'm using myself as the example for this discussion, this topic arose from talking to another friend who has done a great job of professional self-promotion through his career interests; it's in fact a very skillful use of Web 2.0 and 3.0.
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Whew, I started to read and immediately wondered if I was a stalker. But since I am almost a week late in reading this AND I was listed in the "non-stalker" listing, I'll go with a no.
ReplyDeleteI do think we need to be careful in how we represent ourselves online. I mean it is lovely that some people are quite open and happy to share everything but they do not seem to see the potential consequences. I’m not just talking about the potential employer seeing you drinking from a beer bong but also potential mates, financiers, and yes, even stalkers. We, as humans, tend to judge based on what we see/hear – seeing that you party-hardy or that you blog about the crisis in [insert third world nation here] would color that judgment. You cannot “know” someone from what you see online – you can know a portion of their lives, the portion they choose to share. If this is what they choose to share … what are they keeping private?
Hmm, "The hidden lives of the bloggers"...might be a pretty excellent book/movie.
I also think about how we represent our selves as Sellers of Ourselves. (Does this make sense?) For instance. I want you to pay me to make..I dunno..a placemat for you. So you research my name to find out how my reputation is at placemat-making. If I don't have an online identity based on that, you're probably not going to hire me.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who is a faculty member in America somewhere, and he refuses to use a computer. He says that it's just a bad idea, and he has no interest in owning one or using email.
When I talk to him, he acts like he wants to be well-known, but I don't think he considers the two things.
Excellent point! Another thought, you have to 'chose' an identity when you go online. You cannot have one site for your partyin' and one for the professionin' - they will both be found and thus the worlds collide. Might as well decide who you want to be onine then stick with it.
ReplyDeleteExactly. That's sort of how I look at it. I have to admit, I think common sense has a lot to do with it, but even more important a role these days is mannerly behavior. Having been raised by two Midwesterners, I can't even begin to tell you how important good manners are to me. In fact, even more so than grammatical errors, I judge people by their manners. If you're polite and have common sense, it isn't too difficult to establish a credible, reasonable personal and professional identity on the web.
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