I’ve never been one to give a shit about what of “me” is online.  I have blog(s), am on Twitter and many other social networking services.  Up until now, I’ve pretty much said my mind and didn’t care about the audience.  I made a judgment call error a while back on Twitter, and now I’m correcting the issue.

The question comes to be, how does one split yourself from your professional life online from your personal life?  To be honest, it’s fairly difficult if not impossible if you’re trying to keep your identity at all the same between the two.  For instance, I originally signed up with Twitter to broadcast things to my friends.  A friend of mine got interested as well, and we started following each other.  Then, I started working for the same employer and soon coworkers found my profile through my friend.  I have always tried to keep some level of anonymity but when my real picture was plastered on my twitter profile, it was hard to hide the fact it was me.

4000 updates later on Twitter, I’ve realized I can’t just say what I want any more.  See this article about a consulting firm of FedEx became angered when someone they were paying to help them made defaming remarks of the shit hole city they’re based in.

So now, I’ve gone private on Twitter, removed a number of followers I don’t know, and have returned to using it as a communication tool with people close to me.  No more bitching at the free world, no more possibly embarassing myself.  It sucks it had to come to this, but I need to realize I’m representing more than just myself online.  Since I’m associated with my coworkers, I’m therefore a voice for my employer.