I have mixed feelings about personal blogs and social websites. On one hand, I support all forms of self expression. On the other hand, these sites breed exhibitionism that isn't acceptable in person but somehow is online, and I can't help but judge people based on how they present themselves online. We all know that employers and universities have started checking these sites so people have to be careful...But this Jezebel article asks, Is that fair? Is googling someone like stalking them? Or is everything online fair game now and people have to understand that with self-expression comes risks.
However, an important question is, how much of the information on the internet can we trust? Since my numerous stints at internet cafes in India last year, my old, supposedly deactivated hotmail address occasionally sends emails from "me" about great companies everyone should check out. It's spam, and all my friends know it, but I still get annoying emails from people people asking me to stop. Embarrassingly, these emails go out to ALL my contacts, including old employers, professors, and people I've completely lost touch with. Even after closing this account, the spam continues. So I'm guessing that for those who don't know me, they may judge me as 1) An asshole who sends them spam or 2) An asshole who isn't considerate enough to close the account. And there's nothing I can do about it.
I decided to further investigate my "online image" by googling my name. Facebook, old forgotten Friendster, and LinkedIn came up. Then a lot of Suparna Guptas who aren't me came up, and it was a little depressing. I think that I'm definitely the least qualified Suparna Gupta out there in the online world. There's a founder & CEO, Senior Research Scientist, and a Human Rights, Child Protection "Changemaker." Luckily, though...no sex bloggers or porn stars...yet.
