Your “Online Self”
For me, this is a particularly difficult question. I like to go out and have fun with my friends, and my friends and I all post our photos online. These are photos of me, in my free time, having fun (and possibly getting a little out of hand) with my friends.
Top of mind today is the whole notion of your "online self" or what information/pictures/data about yourself you allow online.
Now, since these photos are on the internet, they could theoretically end up anywhere. Hmmmm. Scary thought. Does it matter? Well - maybe. So, I thought I would search for myself and see what came up. What could someone find if they looked me up?
Test 1 - Googling myself. Wwwwweeeeehhhhh. The only things that came up were some organizations I was involved in in college, a photo taken by a local newspaper at an event, and my involvement in photrade. So, I safely passed the google search. Awesome. Passed test 1.
Test 2 - Social Networking - (which will definitely have worse results) my myspace and facebook accounts. On facebook I'm pretty safe, since I can control who has access to view my page, although there are some interesting photos where I have been tagged by others. Myspace results.....hhhmmmmm......not so great. My myspace page is primarily where I connect with my friends and there are a number of photos that are maybe not overly appropriate (and involve alcohal and low cut shirts), but would just show that I like to go out and have a good time with my friends :) Hmmmm this is a half pass.
Test 3 - Triangulation. So throught triangulation - between my blogs, social networks and other affiliations, people could probably 1) figure out who I am, and 2) view photos on multiple sites posted by me. Not so good. My photrade pics (which anyone can see through this link) vary in content, and I have actually had a few people comment on some of them (YIKES). My NAME isn't associated with these, but I think that people could probably triangulate to who I really am through this. This test is probably failed.
OK, so I kind of failed - in that there are photos (taken in good fun with friends) that could give people a less than favorable impression of me.
The next question is - does it matter? Should I care? So what if people can see pictures with me out having a good time and consuming adult beverages with my friends? Who is going to look at this stuff and judge me? Potential future employers? Business Schools (if I ever want to apply)? My family? My coworkers?
I think that a fact of life is that people will judge you based on anything they know about you. Should I care? Does it matter than strangers might judge me based on some random photo they find of me? Probably not. But the reality is that I probably need to care. Not because I think that it is right for people to care or judge me based on these things, but because they inevitably will.
Also I work for, (and therefore feel that I personally represent) a company. Should they care? Is it unprofessional? I am professional in my work and my work relations, I produce strong results and conduct myself appropriately and professionally in the office and at work functions. Why should what I do on my free time matter.
Hmmmm - I think that I need to go and set some of my photos to private (a great photrade feature lets you do this).
