There has been some debate recently on the relative value of real names versus pseudonyms on the Internet. See, e.g., Fred Wilson.
One observation. Take this for what its worth; I am not sure what if any conclusions to draw.
In talking to some younger relatives, all applying to or recently enrolled in medical school, I learned that the common practice today is for applicants to disguise their Facebook identities before applying through a variety of techniques (by using middle names, permutation of real names, nicknames, etc.) to ward off unwelcome visits by medical school admissions people. I assume applicants to undergrad or other grad schools are doing the same. Those putting on these disguises are the first generation of Facebook users — those who were most comfortable with putting their lives online — who have years of status updates, photos, and other things who now must navigate a world of non-Facebook generation gatekeepers. It will interesting to see how this perceived need to disguise oneself evolves over time: do users switch back to their identities after they get into the schools or does the caution carry over; will this even be necessary when the Facebook generation also are the gatekeepers, etc.
Enjoying your blog Rob. I prefer the quick hitter pithy statements or stories that get the wheels turning. Thanks.
[...] about what we posted, but being more open than ever before. By starting with a group that “didn’t know better” or “didn’t care,” it pulled the rest of us in. Indeed, Facebook claims [...]
[...] connection with the “real names”/single identity debate. (See my prior posts here and here.) Email providers could have taken the position that we should all sign up for email accounts [...]
[...] about what we posted, but being more open than ever before. By starting with a group that “didn’t know better” or “didn’t care,” it pulled the rest of us [...]
[...] and “ Now you have to spend, like, an hour untagging photos” in the context of hiding your Facebook profile from med school admissions officers; privacy issues inherent with pictures and automatic tagging, and photos driving social networks, [...]