Digital You

Your identity is online now. Forever. There is, right now, a Digital You.

People who want to know who you are and what you do are going to easily find you, on the social channels right now. In the near future who knows where and how. The information you publish is being seen by other people, and they are forming opinions about who you are. People in the future are going to go back and view the present Digital You.

Digital You is your first impression. It’s also your last impression. For better or worse, your first impression is what you are projecting to the world, literally. The entire world. People who search for you are getting a sense of who you are and what you are like. Digital You is telling people what you value. It’s telling people what you believe. Digital You explains exactly how you create value for other people and what you are known for. Or it could, anyway.

Right now, it is still early days for Digital You. Many people aren’t doing a very good job taking care of their Digital You. They don’t yet recognize that what they write, what they post, as well as the comments they leave, are producing an overall image of who they are. They may not be as snarky in real life as their digital presence. Nor as angry. Nor as crude. Nor as insensitive. Digital You might say things you would never say.

If there is no real Digital You, you are still projecting who you are. You are suggesting that you are sitting out this massive socio-cultural-economic change. Some will believe that you are uninteresting when there isn’t much Digital You. Others may believe you are hiding or that you are afraid of being transparent. You have every right to your privacy, even if it means obscurity, and even if costs you opportunities.

The majority of the people that encounter Digital You don’t know the actual you. Digital You is all they have to go on. Your Digital You should be the best representation of who you really are. What you are doing here matters.