In a post this morning Jeff Atwood over at Coding Horror was making note of some things he found when he was visiting both Anil Dash’s and Laurel Krahn’s sites. It was the number of online identities these two people have; which he provides graphics of, and it got him wondering which of the many identities that these two had actually represented them.
He goes on to muse how his own online identity might be considered fractured given his blog, his Twitter stream and various other online stopping points he has. It amazes him that people like Anil and Lauren can even maintain as many different facets of their identity as he has a hard enough time maintaining just the one blog.
As much as I can relate to Jeff’s struggle with trying to keep his online identities within a manageable level I also think this is a perfect example of the Web 2.0 believe is the inevitable; and proper in their view, socialization of your online lifestyle. In the ethos of Web 2.0 the idea is to be a part of as many social networks as possible and have as many ways to interact with others online as possible.
However I think Jeff’s closing line to his post describes the sanest way to deal with becoming a socialized netizen:
But I do think building a strong online identity is an important strategy for distinguishing yourself in an increasingly online world. So choose carefully, and focus on those things that best represent you.
