The weirdness of a life online

A friend of mine wrote this a while ago.

If we assume that we will be eventually indexed and profiled, then write the story before it is written for you.  Get on Facebook but segment it off to family and friends.  Get on LinkedIn and make sure it is up to date with your experience and what you want people to read about you.  If you are a popular person with lots of contacts, get on Twitter, create a blog, link these things yourself.  This will stop the robots getting it wrong and linking you to some idiot in Iowa who farms chickens.

Anyone who knows me (and anyone who googles me) will know that it seems like there is actually more of me on the internet than there is sitting in this chair. I’ve been told that I fill the first 5 pages of a google search.

Believe it or not, that is a weird feeling. Particularly when you’re apply for a job. Some interviewers have read my tweets, blog posts and listserv contributions so thoroughly that there’s not really much to talk about. Other interviewers have done nothing of the sort, and ask really embarrassing questions like “have you ever used twitter?”

I can’t take back what I’ve written online, but I can try and clarify it.

Right now, I want to say this: there is more of me sitting in the chair than there is on the internet. The person in the chair is very careful about what he tweets and blogs. He is opinionated but not unfamiliar with tact. He will not tweet everything about your organisation if you don’t want him to.

He is really interested in eLearning, LMS and web development. He likes talking to people about technology and how it make  them more productive and enjoy their jobs.

2 Comments to “The weirdness of a life online”

  1. Fleur Coleman 1 September 2012 at 10:43 am #

    Good call Steve.

    ‘Never judge a book by its cover’ – ‘Never judge an online profile by its cache’. I’m sure you’ll get the gist of my meaning someone may have an even better way of expressing this?

    keep on plugging away, all the believers in the rich possibilities of e-learning.

    • Steve Voisey 3 September 2012 at 11:58 am #

      thanks very much, Fleur. 😉


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