I Don't Wanna Be Anything Other Than Me

Fifteen years ago very few people had internet in their homes. Ten years ago most people used a phone call to make plans and wrote letters to stay in touch. Five years ago Facebook barely existed. A year ago no one had even heard of Twitter.

Today social media avenues are some of the main channels of marketing for many organizations. And it is surprising how far we have come on that front and exciting to see where things are headed. But these web applications do raise a few concerns brought to light by living in the age of information.

Privacy. Openness. How much is too much?

Balancing the personal and professional in the workplace, school-place, and anyplace is hard enough, let alone managing your identity online.

I mean, in effect, isn't that all social media really is? Constructing identity through means that are ironically not really all that sociable. Maybe that's why I like it so much. I would say introverts have probably benefited the most from online socialization....next to maybe all the sexual deviants out there.

Socializing in its truest form is really just making up an identity. Establishing labels to pigeonhole and stereotype others' identities (remember human beings do not really like to think). And trying to understand human motivations, behaviors.

Because no one person is the same from one day to the next, it is impossible to really know someone. We are constantly learning, constantly growing, constantly evolving into better versions of ourselves (sometimes worse). Look back three years ago, most of us have changed drastically. Look back three weeks ago. Its subtle, but the change is there.

Personality is really just the sum of thoughts and feelings generated throughout a span of a lifetime. Identity changes with every new thought developed.

When I first started using facebook in the Fall of 2004, there were no such thing as privacy settings, nothing cool like status updates and visual bookshelves, and nothing crazy like demographically targeted advertising.

Facebook has not only grown in functionality, it has also grown in users. And therein lies the problem. When your own mother is your facebook friend, you get a little more cautious of the content you send out.

Today a lot of talk is generated about prospective employers checking the page of an applicant and turning her down because of her wild bar pictures or because she is affiliated with the democratic political party. A lot of people in the public light worry about portraying themselves and the companies for which they work in a negative light by the content of their social media updates. Administrators take down comments, employees are afraid to speak their mind in the event that big brother is watching and their job could be in jeopardy.

To these people, I say: relax!

It is hard not to see the parallel between the virtual world and the real world. How much of who you are is it appropriate to divulge to an employer, a coworker, an aquaintance, a close friend, a first date, a significant other. But maybe we could stand to learn something from the online social networking community.

Would it not be easier to communicate if we were all just a bit more open with one another? The world would be richer and more navigable if we knew who everyone was, their true dispositions and values, rather than allowing ourselves to hide behind corporate identites, or worse, personal branding. Personal branding savors strongly of dishonesty in my opinion.

I know it is a naiive outlook, but wouldn't it be nice if you could get people to like you for who you are not for what you hide about yourself. To want to hire you because you are a democrat who likes to play guitar poorly and watch nerdy scifi shows-- someone who occasionally likes to go out and legally have a good drunken time and on sometimes brings along a camera.

On a side note, wouldn't it also be wonderful if we could skip all that awkward boring small talk where you really learn nothing about the other individual and dive right into the meaningful conversation about real interests subjects of substance?

To those who worry about an employer turning you down for a job because of content on your facebook, I say: its probably not a good fit in that case, find another job.

To those who worry about their public persona...I say, in order to have a persona, you must be a person. You cannot please everyone, so why worry?

To those that work for corporations and must watch what they say, I say to those corporations: relax! Chances are the public doesn't give a hoot anyways. Its probably just as likely that you would gain an audience or customer base due to a controversial comment as you would lose.

To those admins that remove comments, I say bring back our first amendment right.

To those employees afraid to tell the truth, I say quit your job...its not worth the stress.

I'm not saying we shouldn't use judgment. I'm not even saying that I believe this issue is black and white. Will I be taking down my bar photos when it comes time for me to apply for real people jobs? Probably. Will I be establishing privacy settings to keep some content on the DL? Its possible.

The way the world operates makes PR a necessity and personal branding ideal.

If the world was perfect, we would not have to worry about the things we say and honesty would lead to an overall general sense of connectedness among the human race and world peace would reign once and for all.

And if the world was perfect our differences would make us unique people strengthened by diversity rather than torn apart by hatred.

All I know is that my momma always told me: "Be yourself and you will have nothing to worry about." She's a pretty wise lady, so I think I will stick to her advice and do my thing.