It seems as our offline world becomes less and less personal (people looking away from you when you pass them in the hall, the decline of bank tellers, automated phone systems, the list goes on and on), actually our online world seems to be coming more and more personal (more and more blogs, people connecting via various social networks, people referring and sharing content to one another).  Why is it then that as our online world becomes more and more personal, the most personal aspect of one’s life seems to be missing, that is being who they are in the real world online.   Why is it that people feel the need to create these alternative identities online when they have a perfectly good identity already, themselves.

I read two blog posts  today, and it reminded me of what it meant to be real, to be yourself, to share your life experiences with the rest of the world and to give them a glimpse into your life.  The first blog post was by my friend Micah, who is a real character.  It is exactly that why I like him so much.  He is not afraid to put it all out there, to talk about subjects that some may find uncomfortable (and I am sure even he at times finds it hard to talk about them), but it is the fact that he is being “real” that is so important.  He is being himself, sharing his life experiences with his friends, in return it helps hm to cope with the situations that he is blogging about, but at the end of the day, it is about who he is, the “real” Micah.  That takes a lot of courage and I respect him for that.  In fact, I admire the fact that he is willing to be himself online as he is offline.

The second post was by a co-worker of mine, Melanie.   Melanie does a very good job as well about being “real” online as she is offline.  Even though she is on the West Coast and I on the East Coast, I still know that when I read her blog posts, that she is being herself.  She reminds me of the importance of being a good parent, a good citizen and a good human being.  She is not afraid to speak her mind, and for those that read her blog, they know who she is, and know that she is no different offline.

I have and always will be the same online as I am off, and I will always be able to be found as myself, no matter what the social network, social utility, <insert social buzz word here> thing is, I am who I am.  So as we become more personal online, I only hope that the final frontier of being personal is conquered and we can all just be ourselves.