About a week ago, I sent a coworker a link to a photo on my Flickr account.
Yesterday she reported back that she'd looked through all 2,228 photos that I've put online. She asked if I was weirded out. I said, "Of course not. I put that stuff up there for people to see."
It's been about two years since I've been living my life on- and off-line and I have to say that my life is better now than it was before. Admittedly, it's not for everybody. It's not a very private way to live your life. But since I like being the center of attention, it's OK with me. It's made me better at my job, and my parents certainly are happier now that they can check any of my online spaces to get a low-effort confirmation that I'm still alive.
Most of you who read this regularly are probably doing what I'm doing: posting videos, posting pictures, Twittering, Tumbling, and generally exploring the online world. This post is for those of you out there that aren't living your life online. You're probably thinking I'm nuts for putting myself out there the way I do, for exposing my life to permanent public view.
Here's a little guidebook to living your life online.
Starter Kit:
Before you start, assemble the following:
- A decent-sized photo of you. This'll be used for your profile images. Should reflect the personality you want to rep online. I used to use a more fun one, but I'm growing up. So I'm going with a modified Thinker pose. For a younger look, try the Myspace self-shot.
- Short and long versions of "About Me" copy. Make sure they go with each other. Use them wherever you can. Copy and paste. Don't improvise on different sites.
- An understanding that yes, even my 58 year-old mother goes on these sites almost every day. And knows how to use them. If she can figure it out, so can you. If you work in marketing, and you refuse to learn more about these things, well, I hope you like doing print.
- A good username and a strong password (use your middle name backwards and throw some numbers in there in random spots, like: re5k4rap). Use them everywhere. Why remember a bunch of logins?
Profiles:
LINKEDIN - Essential for business-folk. Use it for your resume and for finding old associates. If you're not already, you'll be shocked by LinkedIn's ability to identify people you probably know. It's strangely prescient.
MYSPACE - It's a bit younger (demo-wise) and dirtier than Facebook, but I do like the customizability factor. I use Myspace primarily for personal connections. Friends from college. Friends from high school. Friends from now. They're pretty lame at coming up with new functionality and I think it's on the way out, but you may want to experiment with the biggun.
FACEBOOK - Currently the darling. Applications are a bit funny. But good for keeping a limited profile online.
A word of warning on profiles.
This, by far, is your best opportunity to look like a jerk online. I'm sure mine are a bit off-putting. And I've spent honest time working on making mine come close to representing who I think I am. While everyone is hotter on the internet (the subject of another post), generally very normal people can look like complete idiots when viewed through the lens of a social networking profile. I'd love to provide examples but I'm not that mean. For god's sake, don't try to be funny. I try to go by the idea that if I didn't want my aunt reading it, I shouldn't post it. Mostly because I know my aunt will read it. And tell my grandmother.
Media
FLICKR/Photo Sharing - By far the best photo-sharing site. Geotagging, APIs, slideshows, huge storage for pro users, active communities. What more could you ask for? Oh, and now they do video. Record your life online. Upload daily if you can. Play with your photos. Do projects. It's fun. Let people see what you're really about without having to write a single thing.
VIMEO/Video Sharing - Youtube is obviously the monster here. And I've got more than a few videos on Youtube. But Connected Ventures' Vimeo gets my vote for quality, design, and usability. I like their player better, too. Not having controls below your video (and full-screen on embeds) makes a difference.
LAST.FM/Music Logging - For some reason my Last.fm account isn't feeding correctly into my sidebar, but basically, this web app will allow you to share your musical preferences with the world. It'll even track what you play on your iPod.
A word on media.
The rule of thumb here is constant documentation. This will, undoubtedly, make you better at whatever you do. Whether it's gardening, copywriting or mergers and acquisitions. As you document your life with cameras, iPods and web apps, you'll start to notice things. This is especially applicable to photography/videography. And the things you notice will deepen your understanding of humanity. That sounds a little ludicrous as I read it over, but I'm certain it's true. Plus, you're contributing to a collective history of the world that can't be re-written by someone else. Whoa!
Content
WORDPRESS - Sure, you could start a blog on Blogger for free. But then (no offense, Johanna) you'll have a lame Blogger toolbar at the top. And that terrible Blogger commenting form. You could pay for a Typepad blog. But then (no offense, David), you'll have a lame typepad URL. My advice: grow your own. Ask one of your computer-savvy friends to help you start your own, hosted blog using Wordpress. Heck, ask a blogger. More often than not, they'll help you or at least point you in the direction of someone who can. I pay about a hundred bucks a year for exitcreative.net, and while I can't really say it's ever paid off in dollars, it's probably the best money I've ever spent. Ever. If I could do it again I would have started with clayparkerjones.com, but I like exitcreative. Unless you can come up with a really sweet name, use your own. It's better for SEO. And you're better off controlling your search results than letting someone else do it for you.
TWITTER - I love Twitter. I don't update as much as some of my online homies, but I like being able to update my blog, Tumblr and Twitter via text message from my phone. It's also great for posting ideas you want to remember to a single online space from wherever you are. Basically what you have here is 140-character bites of your life, captured from your phone, your computer or your favorite IM program.
TUMBLR - exitcreative is, from a few weeks ago on out, going to be a place for largely work-related stuff. It started that way, when I thought I knew what I was talking about. In recent months I sort of rebelled from the marketing blog thing, mostly because it seemed a little ridiculous that I would even begin to think I know what I'm talking about. Though this is a common-sense business, I started to feel like a marketing blowhard that should have a posed corporate picture in my sidebar.
Anyway, I decided to start a Tumble-log a few weeks back and it's a perfect place to put your personal observations. I wouldn't use it as a blog (no commenting) but it's a great supplement for your snippets. I like that you can customize formatting for content type.
A word on content, and blogging.
Firstly, do not try to get lots of people to read your blog. After all, what's a lot? 185? That's more than I ever thought would read this. Secondly, make friends with people who read and comment on your blog. My online compadres are by far the best thing that's come out of this experiment. Thirdly, come up with one central topic, and several supporting but not necessarily related topics. Write about your central topic infrequently. Write about your supporting topics all the time. You'll be happier and people seem to like the other stuff. Last thing: do not forget that whatever you publish will be online forever. But don't let that stop you from getting out there and having fun. Good luck!