Some of you may know that I’ve been contemplating “coming out” and revealing my identity, being a bit more up-front about who I am. Here’s some more thoughts on the subject.
History
I’m pretty protective of my identity and concerned about privacy on the Internet. I don’t want people casually searching for my name on Google or Bing and finding out all sorts of things that I’ve said, lots of photos, my address, all sorts of stuff that could potentially be found about me.
I appreciate that there’s a trade off between having things like my blog and Twitter feed accessible and having my own privacy, but I’m not online to promote myself and gain hundreds of followers, so I’ve mostly stayed on the privacy side of that trade off.
And yes, I know, I know. If someone knows what they’re doing they could piece together most of my online stuff and work out who I was and everything about me. I fully acknowledge that.
What’s Changed
I posted about work the other day, and there is a vague possibility that I’ll start working in the field of web development, social media, and community communications, and so it would be useful to be building up an online reputation attached to my real name.
I’m also starting to get fairly good feedback on my online presence and I want to build on that.
Plus, I’m not entirely happy with the title of this Blog. It’s not as professional as I would like and, much as I’d like to keep the “Magicroundabout” brand and name, I’m thinking that something needs modernising.
But…
There are several things that stop me from just saying who I am and changing all my names and letting the world know who I am.
I’m quite attached to my “Brand”
I’ve developed this whole “magicroundabout” identity that’s gained a small, but high-quality following. It would be a shame to start again from scratch.
Changing would be work for both me and you
I could just change the brand and my username(s), but for those that interact with me that would be confusing and some element of work to adjust, plus there is probably a trail of “magicroundabout” around the internet that could get lost or broken.
Options
I’ve been toying with the idea of multiple identities. I could keep “magicroundabout” for all things Swindon, Cycling, Gardening, etc as you’re used to, rebrand the blog slightly, and develop my “real” identity to cover other things – maybe technology and business.
Of course, this actually creates more work for me and my followers and so doesn’t help my second “but”, but it seems to be the obvious and best thing to do.
The only real other option is wholesale rebranding and renaming.
Any thoughts?