Yesterday, on the radio, I heard a piece on Internet anonymity. Specifically, Twitter anonymity, as people can use aliases. The piece included the fact that people are more likely to be aggressive, contentious, or rude when they have the protection of anonymity. I thought it was an interesting piece, because it hearkens back to when email and instant messaging first became possible. We were encouraged, in the early days of home computer usage, to sign on with an alias, to protect our privacy (little did we know.) Back then, people started firing quick and unthought out responses to emails and instant messages, which would later come back to bite them. This occurred in business as well as personal correspondence.
Now that we are on email, instant messaging and sights like Facebook, LinkedIn, or whatever social networking site out there, in full open identity, some of us are more careful about what we reveal about ourselves, and what we say. Maybe because it is not novel, but more, I suspect because our identity is attached, we do not hear about emails dashed off in haste that come back to haunt the writer. Although, many people are still caught being inappropriate in their email, social networking and chat sites. It seems, though, Twitter still allows that anonymity, so it happens more on Twitter.
I guess I try to use the adage, if I would not say it to your face, I will not put it on the Internet.
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