I admit that I have a tendency to over think things. But I am not alone on this one: I did a survey, people. Very scientific. It involved several bottles of wine and my own personal hand-picked, widely-diverse sample of close friends. Okay, not so diverse. Or scientific. But we had a good time.
Here's what we came up with: social networks are forcing us to make serious decisions about who we are and what we want to reveal about ourselves to the world. Sure, there are privacy settings, but let's face it, most of us succumb to the desire to open the kimono a bit and we allow others to see our friends list, what groups we belong to and what events we are attending. But do I really want to publicly join the "Mime Lovers" network on Facebook, or let you people know that I am so psychotic that I listen to Arab Strap occasionally but will also take in a bit of Britney Spears ("My Prerogative" only, I swear), too?
We are all painfully aware that out there, people are watching and judging us -- so you have to choose: do you wear your idiosyncrasies like a badge proudly in front of friends, colleagues, potential clients, ex-lovers and the like, or do you paint a prettier, more sanitized and acceptable version of yourself?
Your post highlights not only a personal conundrum but also a corporate one. The reality is wherever you (or your company) end up on the spectrum of 'openness', if you choose to engage in Web 2.0 (and my hypothesis is that you must), you will be more open than ever before and this 'openness' will increase over time.
The net benefit for all of us is an overall increase in authenticity, and thus more open & trusted dealings and a further decrease in the costs of collaboration (which is a large if not main driver of Web 2.0) ... all of this should result in a substantial improvement in global economic and political efficiency and effectiveness.
Posted by: taitu | October 15, 2007 at 05:14 PM