Online Personality: Are you holding back?

In social settings, personality ping pongs among peers in seconds. You’re loved, admired or disliked, often at fist glance. If your voice towers and words roll of your tongue easily as they echo in sweet laughter then you’re gifted with a personality that brings to mind Ellen DeGeneres or Jim Carrey. And it’s not all genetics, as some psychologists studying personalities agree. Social experience, through interacting with others, helps shape personality and summons in emotions, thoughts, and behavior. We are unique indeed. But what happens to personality on the internet?

Are we holding back when we’re not talking about a failed marriage, or chronic disease or political opinion? Probably! Although, we wouldn’t necessarily offer personal details over a business dinner or at work. We might tell a couple of jokes, but keep emotions inside. We think and behave professionally with purpose in mind even while having that drink.

Interestingly, ONLINE the rules change. Being part of a social networking community, such as this business network, we are expected to share details we would with friends. The at the glance get to know me profile is like the Jim Carrey of profiles. We love them.

But how far are you actually willing to go when sharing your thoughts, problems, situation, values and convictions with the world? For many of us the answer to this is minimal. If you look at profiles, including my own, we’re only filling in the necessary fields requested, like name, age, ambitions, books, music, gender, and marital status. Most people also add their picture slightly better than the generic question mark and only for the sake of talking business face to face.

All the while you are sharing your true personality with every post or comment you write, website you own, YouTube video you publish, bookmarks you Digg, music you purchase; or the Tweets after breakfast, and while Stumble-ing upon your favorite sites or adding pictures to Facebook or Snow pictures on Flickr . The net has you covered. You are a personality ONLINE. People know you, trust you… so put your best foot forward. The internet is no place to hide. Are you holding back?