Sunday, June 8, 2008

Our online selves

Just updated my blogger profile because it was no longer correct and having done that (the things you find time to do when you've 'real' stuff to be getting on with, huh?)... I had a little browse at some other people's profiles and a thought occurred to me.  I wonder how much we really consider how we'll come across in these little snippets of our lives?

Here are a selection of some of my favourite interests from people's profiles:

"sports.specially ball and field games , music of all types..kinda. , inventing CODENAMES , being an obssessive person"

"I love to study history Telling people about the Lord Reaching out to the 500,000 here in England"

"Taking one of my 3 dogs to Agility, Looking for craft bargains on the net, & of course crafting in my room"

"Frugal living, reading, sewing , knitting & crochet"

"251 year old female Capricorn"

What do these say about the writers?  What do they think they want them to say?  Should writing an online profile be given as much thought as writing a CV?  I've often heard it said that to speak effectively for five minutes takes much more preparation than to speak for an hour - and I wonder if the same isn't true of these online snippets?  Does personal presentation extend beyond the obvious these days and online literacy needs to encompass all those things we might not think matter... but might end up mattering a great deal?  Next time want to employ an obsessive person who enjoys inventing code names... then just look on the internet and you're bound to find them... even if they never imagined you would...

Public vs. private facades.  The lines between them are ever blurring.
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1 comment:

  1. Public vs. private facades. The lines between them are ever blurring. yes and no. I bang on to people ad neuseam about the permanence of all that we write on the web because it may come back to bite us. People are shocked when they hear that companies might use online searches to check someone out before an interview.

    But I also think that for some of us the gap between our online life and the other stuff (can't remember what it's called now) is widening. (BTW - Who is Lord Reaching?). I think I keep a reasonably tight grip on who I am online and (you know me IRL so I'll let you judge) it only represents a small part of who I am f2f. A new social divide?

    ReplyDelete

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