Jun 20 2008
What do you pay attention to?
Well, not exactly. If you’re on MySpace, Facebook or any of the hundreds of other social networks, if you’re a blogger, if you’re sharing bookmarks or photos, if you’re contributing to a wiki or to a citizen journalism website, and if you’re otherwise participating on similarly social websites, chances are that someone knows who you are. At the least, people you choose to open your profile to and befriend online know who you are.
Social media sets itself apart from our current convention and understanding of media, in terms of the engagement and commitment of people:
“In mainstream media and advertising, people were relegated to the role of an anonymous and passive audience. This paradigm is no longer working. Today, the community is everything, and more and more people and companies are recognizing their need to change with the times.
In a social media setting, people become active and interactive by expressing their opinion on what they’re viewing, by having the ability to alter content, and by creating their own content to be viewed by others. The means of production, distribution, and story-telling are multiplied while costs are lowered, granting millions of people the possibility to produce their own individualistic content. The result is a new, more engaged type of user. This engagement is further increased when the user may create an identity and make explicit their social connections.” -from “The Premise of Social Media“
Over the last year and a half, increasing numbers of people and companies have started experimenting with social media, but many are still unsure what it is and how to implement it for themselves or for their customer base. People, companies and news organization realize there is a sometimes daunting learning curve, even if we are only at the infancy of this new media. We are all learning and growing and sometimes making mistakes.
Yet, even as we experiment, share, contribute, upload and “generate” content and media for sharing with others, we are building a more complete profile of ourselves and our interests with each action we take online.
Indeed, your online identity is the sum of your content, your comments, your favorite items, your friends, and all of your other actions on the Internet. The online equivalent of “you are what you eat” is “you are what you pay attention to.” You build your identity, even as you learn, and others will see you are not a dog or a frog. The more open you are, the more apparent your identity will be to others. Those that take a real interest in your content will approach you over time, sometimes long after you’ve shared your content and thoughts.
The more you share about who you are as an individual and the more human your tone, the more interesting you become to others; you can really build a passionate community through transparency.
Where do you draw the line between your public persona and your personal interests? Is it really the same? If so, how do you deal with the privacy implications? Are you concerned … or enthusiastic?
Update: This is just to claim this blog on Technorati for future indexing. Technorati Profile
