True Names and True Selves

[athelind]

In a response to my post about the Doctrine of "Real" Names, araquan provided the following insight from a Charlie Rose interview with Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg:

Facebook COO Sandberg talked about the power of relationship-based networks, contrasting "the wisdom of crowds to the wisdom of friends."

"So that's Google versus Facebook right there," Rose replied.

Sandberg didn't agree. She thinks the entire first phase of the Web's development -- which led to "a lot of wonderful things" -- was largely based on "anonymity and links between crowds."

The next stage of development, the one Facebook has spearheaded, is built around identity. "The social Web can't exist until you are your real self online," Sandberg said. "I have to be me, you have to be Charlie Rose."

The logical fallacy, of course, is the conflation of "real self" with "legal name". You can't be your "real self" if you're always wondering, "what would my family think of this? What if my boss Googles me?"

I am my "real self" online, and my "social Web" is woven among those who know me as "Athelind" and "Your Obedient Serpent".

That other name?

That's not my "real self", Ms. Sandberg.

That's my banking information, and I know why you want it.

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Comments

[araquan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the two are only the same for folks who either A) have no qualms whatsoever about posting the most embarrassing details of their activities for all to see, or B) don't feel they have any embarrassing details/activities worth concealing. There may of course be overlap between the two. But everyone else (the vast majority) will self-censor to at least some degree, so even what you see under their real name will be, at best, a particular subset of the real "them".

Of course, provided what's there is accurate (which may or may not be true) that's still useful for marketing purposes, if it's associated with some kind of real-world point of reference.

[drakegrey.livejournal.com]

You know, funny thing is, I've been pondering of late how many of my friends (especially in the furry fandom) seem to have turned into Internet exhibitionists. They post EVERYTHING at the LiveJournal or Facebook - personal photos, addresses, phone numbers and the like.

And then look really surprised, when they start having stalker problems.

As it stands now, even with 'being anonymous' online there's all sorts of potential for problems; I keep hearing all sorts of Facebook horror stories about oh NOES my boss saw THOSE pictures... it seems like if nothing else a lot of education and PSAs are needed before we start going gung ho on using our real names online, full time.