On Easter I had the chance to speak with my uncle who lives in North Carolina. We were doing a bit of catching up when he told me that he follows along with my life on Facebook. I was taken aback when he said that because I realized he knew much more about my life than I thought he did.
Even though I was still wearing my Easter suit, I felt a little naked.
I’m very much entrenched in social networking and there’s not much about my life that doesn’t get posted somewhere. I share my life on Twitter, Facebook and this blog. When my uncle told me that he had been following me on Facebook I suddenly felt like I was talking with Professor X. My uncle is bald but he can’t read minds yet, from everything I post online, he might as well be the most powerful telepath on the planet.
When so much of our lives are out there for everybody to see, social networking can makes us feel a little naked at times. We share so much about our lives, what we’re doing, where we are, who we’re with and how we’re feeling, that people can know us without really knowing us. I have 611 friends on Facebook who, if they look at my status updates, know as much about what I’m doing as my closest friends.
That amount of exposure is scary because it allows others to draw conclusions about us without really knowing us. We have some control over what we most and the identity that we shape online, but even with those controlled identities people will still draw their own conclusions. If we are going to have so much of our lives out for everyone to see, we should strive to make sure it’s an accurate, honest picture.
I’m a nerd who likes to eat while thinking about random things. I’m also a pastor trying my best to do God’s will in this world. I think that comes across pretty clearly through Facebook, Twitter and this blog.
If we choose to, social networking gives us the opportunity to expose a large part of our lives to the world. If we’re going to be exposed, if we’re going to feel naked, then we should strive to make sure that what people see is who we really are, as much as who we really are can come through a profile and 140 characters.
How do you decide how much to expose yourself through social networking?
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