What’s your Google mask?
BusinessWeek has an article detailing the dangers of being overly transparant on the internet. Snippets of people’s lives are online through social media such as blogs, message boards, photo galleries and video archives. The image appears complete but it is a fractured composite. What they are seeing, is not the true person, but rather, their Google mask.
There are some who would advise that you keep your Google mask clean and sterile as the day you first set foot into the internet. Keep the mask shiny, polished and unmarred. Keep your head down and try not to get noticed. Make no waves and don’t rock the boat. Even if one were to accept that as a wise course of action, it’s becoming less of an option.
You may choose not to write about the drunken romp from strip club to strip club, but nothing says your buddy hasn’t waxed eloquent on your exploits in his own blog (and posted the photos to Flickr to boot). You can find many a Flash file on Google Video or YouTube that begins with the subject saying “okay - promise you won’t post this online” before performing an embaressing act in front of a camera. These masks take on a little colour and a lot of definition. But this isn’t their true face. It’s important to remember that. It is a single facet, overblown to gross exatguration.
The only way to shape and to mold your Google mask is to participate. Start a blog. Join a message board. Participate in a wiki. Post your photos and voice your opinions. Dive head first into the internet and swim the seas of cyberspace. The more you communicate, the closer your Google mask reflects who you truly are.
In the short-term, it’s going to be a hard on folks whose Google masks have character and definition. Distinguished from the faceless crowd they make all too easy a target. But there’s a few of us now, with even more coming. As the march towards transparancy continues, the day will come when the odd man out will be the one with the clean, pristine and never used Google mask.
