Personal branding

April 21 2009, 10:46pm

Online and offline life are beginning to merge into one seamless identity for many Internet users. Some view the modern necessity of maintaining an online reputation as an identity-theft crisis waiting to happen. Or worse, a curse of future viewers taking communications out of context.

Lifestreaming is an opportunity to embrace the challenge of a merged online/offline identity. It creates a very constant and pervasive representation of oneself, digitally. Essentially, it is one's brand. It may potentially decrease risks of identity theft (might a compromised lifestream noticably be no longer capable of communicating a person's true expression?), and gives vast amounts of context to previous communications. Those beer bong photos on Facebook? Well, if you look at the context of my timeline, you can see that I am capable of maintaining a very active social life while getting straight As and paying my taxes.

An online reputation should be just as cared for as your offline reputation. Because one day soon, we will stop referring to them as separate concepts. But you don't have to be afraid to let your true self, flaws and all, come across online. After all, it's the mistakes that make us human.