Streams from the Road: Public vs. Private Personas

   (1291 KB)
Listen on posterous

Comments

[Theresa]

I use a similar approach - mostly personal acquaintances/friends on FB, broader on Twitter. Whatever way it may be, people should understand and be comfortable enough with these spaces to feel that they can control their message - not so they can hold back, per se, but more really the opposite - because they are comfortable. I think Bill Gates leaving Facebook due to having "too many friends" was not so much due to him being a dismissive user as people will joke, but really because he did not create a controlled space for himself where he was comfortable (Facebook and Twitter were used in the same way) - I actually wrote about that on my blog. My messages on FB are a lot more geared towards what I'm doing, and my tweets are more about what has caught my attention. People use different approaches, but as long as they're used consistently, it seems to work.I think this is a very important topic you bring up because it will allow for more people to start feeling comfortable using different spaces knowing what boundaries they set for themselves. I guess at the end of the day, it's back to the whole target audience idea - answering the question: Who cares? For my baby pictures, I'll post them for my family and close friends, because they will! For those I am following regarding health care modernization on Twitter... probably not...

[Evan Kline]

I handle it the way you do - Facebook for personal contacts, with Twitter and just about everything else being public. I have toyed with the idea of two personas on some sites, but haven't gone that route yet. As universal as Facebook has become, though, it may become harder and harder to reserve that for just private connections. Perhaps a public account and private account will be needed there someday.

[Shawn Hickman]

I don't think people should really stress over this. Just be yourself in all situations and stop caring about what people think of you. If you want to share certain things on certain networks then go for it. Just remember, most people don't care about anything you do. ( I mean that in a positive way)

[Joe Buhler]

I tend to agree with Shawn's statement above, especially the last sentence. Outside what for most people is a limited circle of friends, the world at large doesn't give a hoot about things you do, maybe about things you think and are passionate about but not the personal "I just had this type of breakfast!" kind of stuff, so why tell the whole world about it? That can be shared if anywhere at all to a self-selected group on Facebook maybe.

[Graeme Thickins]

thx, Steve - after listening to your podcast, I'm gonna treat Twitter & Facebook differently...will stop pushing all tweets to FB

[Denise Wakeman]

I get this question from clients all the time as well. I use Facebook, twitter & others for business mostly. Sometimes I share some personal stuff to create more "human" connection. I'm moving more to using Facebook Fan page for biz info and profile for more personal to see how that works.

[Benjamin Karam]

For a long time I had my Twitter messages updating my Facebook page until I began to realize the need for some separation. Many updates I was making clearly had one audience or another. Most people have both a private and a personal persona so why not model our social network activity accordingly. With facebook, I only "friend" those people that I actually know and with which I am maintaining a relationship. I like the control of this in Facebook while enjoying the openness of Twitter for other reasons.Theresa, I liked how you summarized your update strategy and am trying to adopt that approach.

[Ideas A Reality]

I'm enjoying this talk of dividing and combining personas, having just read Chris Brogan's thoughts on dealing with all our complex human facets http://www.chrisbrogan.com/all-the-hats-and-faces-we-wear/I divide my personas like mad, not just business/personal, and not usually between networks, but within, whether it's twitter/tumblr/google, I have multiple accounts. Some I attach my real name to, some I link to each other e.g @matthewjctalbot. Currently it's painful to swap between them, though apps are developing to be more flexible and facilitate dividing (e.g. Tweetdeck for multiple accounts and even Google labs to display multiple addresses).I divide, not to be dishonest or to hide parts of me from others, but because I don't like to talk to everyone about everything. It feels more natural, and I hope more new social functionality will respond to these needs.