Who are you online?
Filed under: cyberspace
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This post serves as a prelude to a longer article I plan to write in the near future. I figured it would be nice to go ahead and ask for some opinions / reactions first. Who knows something interesting may come up that can be used in the article.
Last week my collegue Christian Heilmann gave an interesting presentation called Casting Online Shadows. His talk was about the person you are online compared to the person you are in real life and much more important: about the impression other people have of you when all they've got is what they see from you on the internet. The entire presentation can be downloaded here in PDF format in case you're interested.
It takes a lot of time and effort to gain recognition online, or 'status' if that's what you want to call it. Funny enough it usually only takes one or two dumb mistakes and it's all down the drain. Unlike in my early years on the internet I nowadays try to be careful about what I publish online. I never reply to emails that cause an emotional reaction with me right away. I try to never comment on issues that make me angry in an impulse but wait it out for a day or two instead. When I'm upset about something and feel the urge to post about it on this site I leave it alone for a while and usually don't bother posting about it at all anymore. I guess I've grown more careful over the years.
For now my question to you is: How much do you care about the (limited) impression you impose on other people? People who don't know you but yet think they do because they read your blog, your comments, chat messages or emails. People who may one day be that new and exciting girl/boy you met the other day. People who may one day be the guy interviewing you for that one job you always wanted. People who only know you from what they can find out about you on the internet.
Do you just 'let it al out' or are you careful? And... why? I'm interested in your opinions!
At 21 May '07 - 17:30 Pam wrote:
Your online presence is amazing and you have the online manners and skill to write a full length article on this, in my humble opinion.
At 21 May '07 - 17:39 Kyle Korleski wrote:
At 21 May '07 - 20:02 Nate Klaiber wrote:
No matter what the scenario, communication online is always tough. Not knowing people personally. Not knowing tone. Not knowing verbal cues. Not knowing context. So many things can go wrong, that it is important to focus on how to make it go right.
As you have said, I found myself backing off a little bit when something strikes me – even if it is a blog elsewhere. I want to be respected, but respect can only be given where respect is due – and if i lash out in a moment of frustration, well, that’s not really a way to gain respect.
Lots more to say on the issue – but for me, I know there are things I will be changing as I move forward.
At 21 May '07 - 22:05 Jeriko wrote:
As for me, I don’t care that much about it, but I try to be myself. There are limitations of course: Never ever will I write about my family, stuff about friends is also very rare (and if so, then in an anonymous way) and I think twice before I write about personal, emotional happenings. I’m sure there’s more, but these are the first topics I could thought of.
One addition to your post, you said that it takes about two dumb mistakes and that’s it. I can’t speak for the international blogosphere, but in Germany, there’s this phrase “die Sau durch Klein-Bloggersdorf treiben” – it means they have their hot topic, their boiling point for about a week, forget about it and look for the next “Sau”. I know what I’m talking about
At 22 May '07 - 19:32 listr wrote:
there is this page i found which tracks all the top blogs about personal development in just a single page
http://www.netreputation.co.uk/directory.. Development
you are on it too