2016 #CLMOOC #DigiWrimo #AltCV
As I mused about creating this season’s #AltCV, a recent interaction with #CLMOOC friend Stephanie Loomis came to mind. She was wrapping up a project related to social media profile pictures (you’ll have to ask her for the details!) and messaged me with some questions. She asked me for my interpretation of the following Facebook profile picture:
To which I responded:
I hadn’t consciously analyzed the photo before posting it as my profile picture. However, when Stephanie asked me what it represented, I came up with my description easily, with very little thought. So, the analysis and interpretation were already there, just at a subconscious level.
I was also somewhat astounded by the similarities in Stephanie’s interpretation:
She and I “know” each other only in virtual spaces. The photo spoke for itself.
As Stephanie and I chatted further, we explored the blurring of lines between “professional” and “personal” identities:
In reality, our professional and personal lives co-existed before social media. The difference was that on our resumes, and in presenting our “professional face,” we emphasized our skills and experience vis-à-vis the position we held, or wished to hold. We downplayed our personal lives, only divulging details to our closest colleagues.
Given we are holistic beings, this new era of transparency is refreshing. When we fracture ourselves into multiple personalities (Sybil anyone?), we are inauthentic. So here I stand. Strong, hopeful, and as documented in this 2014 #CLMOOC avatar, a warrior.
☺😚
🙂 you’re a star!
I love this! I struggle with the separation of “professional” and “personal” and where social media fits in all this. For me, mostly, my “social media self” brings it all together in it’s authentic messiness. (And sometimes I hope that some of my professional associates never see that! Then I think of a mentor who once said to me “Do you really work to work for [with] someone who doesn’t think that’s cool?”
I agree, Karen, that we are tempted to compartmentalize. That we are afraid of being “found out” by those we rub shoulders with on a professional level. I am consciously working on being fully authentic in every context, and in weighing decisions based on my authentic self and what matters to me. It is sometimes a struggle.
“I am consciously working on being fully authentic in every context, and in weighing decisions based on my authentic self and what matters to me. ” Powerful words. Thanks for them.
Great post .. I love Stephanie’s exploration of profile pics, and how yours led to such an interesting conversation.
Kevin
Thanks, Kevin!