Business Vs. Personal
Here is a question to all of those people out there whose business is online, and who are involved online personally as well. How does one separate the two? How important is it? Ok, so there are two questions 
Business vs. Personal
My business life has been online for many years, and needless to say, so has some of my personal life. Although I do not tend to get involved as much as many, the presence is still there. As far as personal goes, I want to be able to be myself at some point….and as I am sure is common with everyone, being yourself, in your own skin, isn’t the persona that you use in your business. There are always two sides to people, and most often, the two should not mix. Or should they?
Does it impact a business or potential clients of that business to learn more about the personal side of the owners or employees? Obviously we’re not talking sociopath tendencies here, but rather personal opinions, politics, things we like to do, etc. How does it impact the client, or you?
For my own opinion, I love to see personal touches with the businesses I deal with. If the people are a little on the kooky side, all the better. But then, I am a little on the kooky side myself….takes one to know one
I would love to hear more opinions on this, from both sides of the fence. Has the internet made business more friendly? Has a line been crossed? Or is it okay, as long as the two are separated?
I look forward to any comments on this!
I don’t think you CAN put all of yourself–all of your personal self and all of your professional self–in any one spot. I am a professional consultant to corporations, an internet junkie from way back, and I have a variety of very different interests and (often) extreme views. I’ve got goofy art stuff I do in certain places (my own blogs/web pages & community blogs, etc.). I’ve got my straight-up professional web pages & spots. I also have everyday-personal socializing spots (e.g., facebook). I have also been known to make extreme-lefty & pro-gay-marriage comments on a number of political blogs. In my case, I use my name “allenbukoff” or “bukoff” across all of these different spots. Therefore, I am fairly easy to research–i.e., you can find ALL OF THIS stuff about me (personal AND professional AND political) via a simple google search. AS FAR AS I KNOW, I HAVEN’T SUFFERED PERSONALLY OR PROFESSIONALLY for this…but it is a risk for me. If you want to be more careful than I am about keeping your personal and professional lives separate, then I would recommend having different nicknames for your different spots & personas…and register for these services using different email addresses that are not easily linked.
Just as I think it is quite natural to use different web services/functions for different aspects of myself and for my different agendas (from personal to professional), I have noticed that it is also quite natural and good to sometimes be a little personal on the professional channels and a little professional on the personal channels I have created. For example, I find Twitter to be a PROFESSIONALLY useful channel, but I don’t mind if some of the people I am following for professional reasons Twitter about an airport delay or a personal family event….OCCASIONALLY. It does humanize them, it & me.
I agree with almost everything Allen Bukoff has to say in the above comment. He seems to be wise.l