Do you think you actually know me from reading this blog or reading my status updates on Facebook?
It's weird when somebody I don't know all that well IRL (in real life) will tell me how they "know EVERYTHING" about me. That is a really strange thing to say to somebody.
Facebook, blogs and social media in general are forms of performance art, I think. These media may reveal essential basics and ideas (for me at least) but they don't represent the whole picture of a person. There are definitely some people who wear their hearts on their sleeve (err, on their wall as it were) but I am not one of those people. You'll get a general idea of who I am, what my life is like and my thoughts, but you'll never get the whole picture unless we spend time together in person. I have no problem revealing certain more intimate truths about my life. But these are the sorts of things I have no problem talking about openly in person. My FB privacy functions have a series of lists that control which posts/images can be seen by which of my friends. I hope that you are doing the same. Having a modicum of privacy is essential even in today's Tell-All world.
I never claim to know anybody based on what they write in social media forums. It's a very calculated image. It is a presentation. It's an avatar.
Don't forget - I still charge a shit-ton of money if you want me to do your public relations. I spent nearly a decade writing for advertising in both public relations and copy in New York City. You don't net the high fees if you don't know how to spin an image or cultivate the flow of information.
What I do worry about is the time and space that is growing between myself and the friends/family whom I am separated from by distance and time difference. I don't want these close friends (i.e. the people who do actually know me) to start mistaking my social media avatar/persona for actual me (or likewise, theirs for them).
Thank goodness for chat functions, private messages, text messages and Skype. Frequent interactions in real time seem to bridge the gap.
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