Managing how you appear on the internet will be the critical social skill of the 21st century.

What we are starting to see are the ramifications of a very public, private life. Celebrities have dealt with tabloids exposing the most intimate details of their private life for years. As such, celebrities have learned to avoid the spotlight and when they do have a problem, to involve someone who can do damage control. For the average John Q. Public, the consequences of exposing their private life on the internet is starting to sink in. As firings over social networking, blogs, and websites increase, people are responding by pulling back on use of the available technology.

There are several high profile cases where people have been fired for blogging but what we are seeing is the tip of a very large iceberg.  Most employment discrimination that occurs because of what is published on the internet,  goes unannounced.  It happens before any interview ever takes place. Any organization, company, or person which has a selective process for candidate evaluation (employment, college admission, dating, etc) is going to use the internet to assist in the decision making process. People are going to soon learn that their misdeeds of the past are going to cost them dearly when they attempt to reach their goals unless they change their approach to the internet. To date, most of the discussion about how to present yourself over the internet has been about prevention and recovery. Additionally, if something bad is out on the internet, people are attempting to remove the content. So in effect, people are attempting to become anonymous by removing themselves from the internet through prevention and recovery methods.

The focus on keeping yourself anonymous, as best as possible, is misguided. In a world where all of us can be researched on the internet, not having a presence can be worse than remaining anonymous. Over the course of time, the societal expectation will be that you can get a good feel for who someone is by viewing who they are online.  If you can’t view information about that individual, the assumption will be that you are a nobody, you have no professional connections,  or you have provided a false identity.   It will be difficult for you to succeed in an increasingly smaller world.
Even if you were to successfully hide, which I know is somewhat doubtful; it probably wouldn’t be the best course of action for you.  It’s quickly becoming a catch-22 for many people wishing to remain anonymous and wanting to be part of society.

However it doesn’t have to be.  The focus of how to use the internet from the individual perspective needs to shift to using the internet as a tool to help you separate yourself from the pack, in a good way. Controlling how you appear on the internet will help you reach the goals you desire. As time marches on, it will not be optional to control how you appear on the internet, it will be expected. Embracing the internet and effectively portraying yourself on the internet for the world to see will be the critical social skill of the 21st century.