Thursday, February 04, 2010

ever and anon

A potential blogger emailed me early this morning. She introduced herself as a friend of a college friend of mine. She immediately flattered me by saying that my name had come up in their conversations several times over the years. Here is the main part of her email:
Two great passions of mine are the arts and travel. While getting laid off from the travel industry has put a hold on any travel desires, living in New York gives me the solace of the arts, especially the performing arts; almost as necessary to me as the air I breathe. (Which, thankfully, there are inexpensive ways of enjoying.) A musician friend, whose talent and taste I hold in great esteem, has been urging me for months to start a blog of my impressions of performances, art exhibits, and other arts-related notes. Hopefully, travel will come back into my life and those observations can be added as well.

Amongst all the other decisions - name, colors, graphics, fonts - is the question of whether to use my real name or not. Although my musician friend says he wouldn't compose anonymously, this is slightly different. As I am applying to job postings from arts organizations it gives me pause. Part of me says I am being ridiculous. First of all, who says any of these people are going to even find, much less read my blog and, secondly, it's not as though I would be insulting to anyone. But, caution plays a part because of my jobless situation, although another friend of mine who is always cautious, thinks my writing could wind up generating interest that could benefit my career. (But, playing devil's advocate, anyone could respond via the e-mail link if they want to contact me.)
I am not a fan of anonymous blogs. They seem cowardly to me. Within the past year I exchanged emails with an anonymous blogger who ended up deleting her blog because people were starting to figure out that she lived in Knoxville.

I think she has to assume that her blog will eventually be discovered. Is she willing to deal with the consequences when that happens? What does she have to say that she would be ashamed to attach her name to? And if she is ashamed to say it publicly, should she really be saying it in the first place?

I do believe in blogs as a way to promote your personal brand. Put yourself in the position of someone who is hiring in 2010. Which candidate do they hire, the person with no online presence or the person who has figured out how to use blogs, Twitter and Facebook?

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2 Comments:

Blogger Cassie said...

I feel bad because I feel like I helped to push the anonymous blogger that you are referring to underground. I had been reading her blog for a while once before and she jumped ship. Then I happened upon her again and began reading. When I saw a post about Einstein Simplified I couldn't help but share it with you. Shortly after that she closed up shop. I knew that she tried to be anonymous, but I didn't realize how BIG OF A DEAL it apparently was to her. I am normally not a fan of anonymous bloggers. I think you should stand behind what you say/type. Anyone can go online hiding behind anonymity and spew all kinds of crap. I prefer real people who are not afraid to make real connections. I have a fabulous circle of blog friends and I am happy that they know the real me, not some mysterious anonymous blogger.

2/05/2010  
Blogger Cassie said...

Oh and I left a little something for you over at my blog. Hope you like it :o)

2/05/2010  

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