An annoying, and slightly creepy, thing happened to me today. I posted an innocuous comment on an article on the publishers weekly web site. They did not ask for any kind of sign in stuff, which was convenient, because on some web sites I either have to go through an annoying lengthy registration process, or remember a sign-in name and password I created two years ago.
Anyway, I wrote this little comment, hit “post,” and when it posted, not only did my picture appear next to it, but also my personal facebook page “job description” (which is meant solely for friends’ consumption, not for public distribution) appeared underneath it.
What the hell?
I realize I’m a fairly public person, but what bothers me about stuff like this is the obvious loss of control of my image that this kind of facebook abuse represents. I suspect most people don’t have to think like a press agent, but I have to. I spend a lot of time and effort crafting “bio’s” that are appropriate for given contexts. This is not a minor thing. Image is important. I see this as low-level hacking.
Also, because I have a public persona, it’s important that I keep things separate from my private life. I prefer to not bombard my closest friends with all of my blog posts. I do not link my twitter account to my facebook account to my linkdin account. There are different audiences in different groups of people on all these different media outlets, and given how much stuff I publish, I don’t want to risk getting in the “tweets too much” category. I mean, when I post a blog here, you are not getting an e-mail or a text message about it, nor does it appear in your facebook newsfeed. But when I put something on my business facebook page, this puts information that maybe isn’t really appropriate or of interest on the “newsfeed” of my inner circle of friends. It is very hard to keep that all separate. But doing so is just good manners.
I am hoping that google+ will fix all this.
I am starting to notice more and more, that if I want to post a comment on a media site, I am being asked to “sign in” with either my twitter or my facebook account. Screw that. They are trying to get info so they can sell me something, There’s a tremendous Oklahoma land rush going on out there, trying to lay claim to social media territory. Clearly, I have to redouble my efforts to make sure I am maintaining control of my web identity.
© Justin Locke
