Will the real Cara please stand up?

Most days I consider myself an open book. I’m pretty happy with the way I live my life, am a self professed terrible liar, and will tell you a bit about myself if prompted (I’m still a teeny bit introverted, you know). But who am I, really? And who cares?

There aren’t any scandalous secrets about me online. I’ve been smart enough to limit my web profiles so only friends are allowed to check in on me. I’m selective in my posting of pictures. I try not to post anything too personal that might encourage identity theft or a myriad of other dangers you hear about. When you Google me (we all do it, right?) the main entries are mostly me, mostly accurate, and mostly innocuous. But am I ready for everyone to know the “real” me?

Over the last few months, I’ve been grappling with the E4 “experiment” using social media. I consider myself fairly technically savvy – been a blogger, on Myspace, religiously check Facebook for my friends’ status updates, and finally added a text package to my cell phone because the SO (for those not yet up on the multitude of text/chat abbreviations*, that would be “significant other”) was burning up messaging charges using his iPhone. To this point, though, the techie geek in me has been mostly operating in the personal side of my life. Adding professional groups and contacts adds a whole new dynamic to my wired life.

When mulling this topic over, I decided to check out the “Do’s and Don’ts of Social Networking.” Type that phrase into any web browser and you will get several good articles – mostly common sense but worth looking into if you are new to the online world. Because someone, somewhere will take a look into something you post. Period. What I struggle more with is revealing the inner sanctum of my brain with co-workers, professional contacts, future employees – and the assessment they may make of me from reviewing a quick status update or tweet.

The thing with social networking that is great to me is the connection to someone past, present, and future. My friends from many points in my life can quickly check in on my world and I can do the same. I can learn a bit more about a newer friend so I know if I should take a bottle of red or a bottle of white (“it all depends on your appetite”) to their dinner party. Because I have deliberately limited my “friending” to people that I actually know (and like) I feel like I can truly be myself. Which, to be honest, is sometimes silly, sometimes mundane, and sometimes even a bit too nerdy for me to even admit out loud. But I will post that status update with the best of them. Most of my friends know me well enough to not be surprised about anything I might say.

But would my professional world be as understanding? Would you think I am dull, self-centered, or a little wacky? So, here’s the test…using the following real status updates from Facebook, make your judgment about me.

• Cara Beckerle “the heat is on…burnin’ burnin’ burnin’, it’s on the street…the heat is (we are really red hot) on”
• Cara Beckerle is still on the fence about twitter…trying to figure it out for work, though.
• Cara Beckerle Doesn’t like mornings
• Cara Beckerle great day at the pool with the fam…Scotty, Dozer, and I are all tired!!
• Cara Beckerle started her day with pancakes at noon. it’s going to be a good one.
• Cara Beckerle“And were there more than 24 hours a day, they’d be spent in sweet content dreaming away…all I do the whole day through is dream of you!” (bah bah, bah bah, bah bah… bah dah dee dah bum bum)
• Cara Beckerle Thankful for the breeze at the FAA field
• Cara Beckerle is ready to brave the STL heat and humidity so I can go home. SO glad tomorrow is Friday!
• Cara Beckerle whistles while she works.
• Cara Beckerle is ready for a great Wednesday. Just putting that out there into the universe, friends, because I need a great day.
• Cara Beckerle living room is officially rearranged, dinner dishes are washed, and I read my 50 pages for “book club.” I think I can go to bed now.
• Cara Beckerle wonders if the nephew’s baseball game will be on tonight or not…
• Cara Beckerle is trying to get motivated to do more than watch “Cooking for Real” on the couch.
• Cara BeckerleIs in the drive thru line.
• Cara Beckerle “I’ve got soul, but I’m not a soldier”

The nuggets of information I’ve shared above give people a snapshot of my life over a few weeks (I am not that prolific in my updates – about 2-3 per day). Some of them are admittedly quite boring. Some only my friends would find amusing. Some even my friends don’t get. But it’s me – the good, the bad, and the song lyrics that are running through my brain. I admit that it makes me feel good when someone “likes” my status update. If I’m having a bad day, quite often a friend will comment on my status with some encouragement. It’s the “social” part of the whole social networking phenomenon.

The question is: Do my colleagues or industry contacts need this much information about me? Will I, in a moment of weakness or frustration, reveal too much? Do I have anything to reveal anyway? This is why I’m struggling with the addition of professional contacts to my existing network. I could go the way of Lindsay Spencer, featured in this CNN article, who decided to create a professional and personal Facebook page. Or I could choose to use another networking site like LinkedIn solely for my professional life.

Somehow I still feel a little at odds about the decision. I like the “real” me – I’m good enough, I’m smart enough… but will you like me?

*Parents, some of these acronyms are eye opening. You may want to check them out if you have an IM or text savvy kid!