One or more web profiles?
Published in stuff October 26th, 2010 |
This question circles the net from time to time. With the massive growth of web 2.0 the debate about one or several web profiles still remains. And while the geeks still wonder, the social sciences already have the answer.
Logically, every one of us is a person with his/her own identity. Thus we need a web profile that represents our own identity and nothing more. It is insane to have profiles in all the web 2.0 services from this point of view.
Unfortunately, it is not that simple.
It is true – we all have our own identity/personality but are we always the same? Do we always act the same way, have constant behavior, etc. Of course not!
When interacting with others, we use different social roles. We communicate in a certain way with our family, in a different way with our friends, in another way with our colleagues, with strangers and so on. We act and we are supposed/expected to act in a certain way. (Read more about role theory here)
It is just the same in the web.
When you sign up for a service in the net, you sign up for a particular role. And you know it. You expect to meet a certain type of people who behave in a certain way and you are expected to be a certain man/woman and behave in a certain way. You don’t want to share party pictures in your LinkedIn profile, right?
So, having different profiles in the different services in the web is the “natural” way of expressing your personality. This is true, of course, only in the common case (we except commercial purposes, anonymous profiles, etc.).
The bottom line: make profiles and have fun, guys!
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