From the Desk of Janet Barclay

The Independent recently published an article, Public lives: Does the internet know too much about us? which begins by illustrating the volumes of information that can be learned about an individual simply by Googling his or her name. However, unlike other articles on this subject, author Michael Savage does not portray this as something to be alarmed about. Instead, he says:

… some out there are realising that the dawn of the transparent age should be welcomed, rather than feared. It could end up making us all more tolerant, less uptight, and more popular. As all the barriers between our public and private personas come tumbling down online, we may well realise that it’s not such a bad thing. Digital curtain-twitching could be the means for creating a more relaxed, honest and unashamedly open society.

There was a time, not so very long ago, that I felt like I was one person when I was at work, a different person with family, another person with friends, and so on, and at that time the thought of all these people from different corners of my world seeing the same side of me would have made me quite uncomfortable. Since starting my own business, I feel like I’m just me, no matter where I am or who I’m with. The guest list for my 50^th birthday party included family members, former co-workers (from different jobs), and business contacts – something I would never have done in the past. Had I not gone through this transformation in my own life, I might not be as receptive to Savage’s comments, but the explosion of social networking seems to have occurred at just the right time in my life, and I don’t worry at all about the "wrong" person seeing something on my blog or on one of my online profiles.

I think it’s wonderful to be able to see what the people in my business network do when they aren’t working, and if they also enjoy seeing photos of my travels or other activities, that’s great too. Certainly, there are some things in life that should remain private, and common sense should be exercised when posting photographs and personal information on one’s blog, Facebook profile, or elsewhere online. If you wouldn’t want a client or prospective employer to see something, you should probably consider sharing it with your friends via email or some other way.

One of the most interesting parts of the article was the suggestion that in the future, people will look at you suspiciously if you’ve kept a low online profile, and wonder what you’re trying to hide. Tom Ilube, chief executive of the online profile management firm Garlik, said:

If you were an employer in five years’ time recruiting someone and looked for them online only to find nothing, you’d think, "what an odd sort of person. What kind of person would engineer their teenage lives in such a way as to remove their digital footprint?"

I don’t think we’re there yet – I know quite a few people who are reluctant to join social networking websites, and others who join but refuse to post a picture or anything terribly interesting – but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Savage and Ilube are right! Would you have predicted five years ago that the Internet would have evolved to where it is today?