In retrospect, maybe I should've started out on facebook that way.
It's not like I really care to keep my online activities hidden from people that know me in my personal life outside of work. I'm hardly shy about my opinions or viewpoints that way.
But at the same time, I don't want random google searches by potential employers or people in other similar positions of authority to grant or deny me any opportunities I seek to be able to see all the things I say and do online.
Which is why this (albeit nearly defunct) blog does not have a reference to my real last name. Nor does my twitter account.
The only reason I went with my real last name on facebook is because facebook has promised me privacy. A trust that they have been slowly and calculatedly eroding.
I've finally come to realize that facebook will keep on making these "public unless you opt out" changes and not everyone would be diligent enough or even care enough to keep opting out.
So in order to keep interacting with my friends on their pages, photos, etc., I've realized that I have to start acting like all those pages would be public just like the rest of the open internet.
The other option is to stop using facebook. I'm not interesting in that. It is a very engaging forum, and I've come to enjoy it. I've managed to reconnect with a lot of old childhood friends, and family too.
So the middle ground is to get back to being quasi-pseudonymous. Even on facebook, just like I am on the rest of the internet. Any old friend searching for me can easily find me via one of my current friends. They really don't need to search for me by my real last name.
Also, finally I can do something I wished I could've done, but didn't so far - create a link to my facebook profile on the sidebar of this blog so that anyone who comes across this blog and wants to connect on facebook can look me up there too.
My peeps thought I was nuts to use a pseud on FB. Guess my inherent suspicion of their intentions, re privacy, were well justified.
ReplyDeleteNot being pseudonymous is something that still haunts me on occasion as well. I really started my blog as a way to promote my freelance artwork, so at the time, I felt it was more important to use my real name.
ReplyDeleteSometimes you can't turn back the clock. I hope it works out for you Arvind! (Found you through your comment at Bora's: tip of the hat to you.)
Drug, Glendon, sorry for the delay in publishing your commments. This blog mostly languishes and I check it once every month or so for any comments.
ReplyDelete