Does Twitter Breed lack of Athenticity?

Jason from Technology Review (one of my new favorite magazines) wonders out loud, in print, at the front of the latest issue about how social media drives him to put a false face forward. His face and voice in the various platforms he participates in is one-sided and portrays a constant state of what I will call "business enthusiasm." He considers this inauthentic. The Jason Pontin of social media is a constructed persona.

Well, I couldn't disagree more. And while Jason has invited all of us who read Technology Review to send him an email with his thoughts, I have chosen to post here and carry on whatever conversation comes from this out on the 'Social Web.'

Quite a few smart people are trying to understand the impact of social media on our lives. An article from the New York Times Magazine from Clive Thompson ran this past week and introduced a broad public to teh idea of ambient awareness to describe the benefit we get from Twittering and updateing our News Feed and consuming our friends. he goes on to describe a similar tendency of people wanting to put their best face forward and be interesting.

In-Authenticty is Possible Everywhere
We can all be "in-authentic" at any point in any situation. It doesn't take technology to enable a articifical construct. Authentic to me means being someone other than you are. Portraying a voice or face that is not really a part of you.

If anything, social media has allowed me to be more of who I am. I share mostly about digital marketing, word of mouth, and social media. That's not just how I make my living - I actually love what social media can do and am genuinely fascinated with it. Often I share about other interests and opinions that I have or even family experiences. I am sure a lot of this is of little interest to many people, probably even annoying. But I have connected with quite a few people via social media who enjoy seeing multiple sides of people. I travel a bit. whenever I go somewhere I connect with bloggers and social media enthusiasts in real life. I love meeting and talking with people that I have gotten to know online. I am connecting with something and someone authentic.

Sure there's more to me than what I write about in this blog or on my Twitter feed. But what I talk about here and how I do it is completely a part of me. I have not constructed a persona. I have followed my interests, found topics and discussion where I can connect with people I respect and am interested in.

One thing I am conscious of - I avoid negativity. I avoid anything that smacks of snarkiness in my blog posts. To my friends, I am just as capable of going off on an issue as the next guy. But I am trying to tone that down everywhere in my life. I have just gotten to a point where I need less negativity in my life and don't want to indulge as some others do online. That doesn't make the social media John Bell any less authentic (although talking about myself in the third person is a little weird).

Jason observes that social media binds us more to the opinion of others. Do we play a role to attract attention (e.g. linkbaiting techniques)? That's one way to look at some of the more popular bloggers. But that doesn't define how 125m bloggers behave. Many people want to be themselves online knowing that in the long tail they will attract someone and likely someone who is authentically attracted to whatever they are doing.

If anything, social media will establish a new premium on personal authenticity. People will discover falseness and polyanna personas. Ultimately they will reject them in favor of authenticity. That's my guess, at least.

Comments

[ADMAVEN]

I don't see lack of authenticity as an issue. The great thing about social media is the community culls the information that it finds to be of little value.

[jeremy]

Showing multiple sides adds what Rohit might call personality...I like it, though there's a balance. Like you, I blog and share things I'm passionate about....it's also what I get paid for (fortunately).

I try to follow the 80-20 rule, mostly "high value" stuff combined with the occasional comment about my kids, etc.

Going to re-blog this soon w/in a post I'm working on. Well summarized though.

[John Bell]

I agree. I don't think social media as we know it in NA breeds a lack of authenticity. The safety is as ADMAVEN says - the crowd deselcts the in-authentic