When worlds collide
Posted By Jon on July 2, 2009
At the urging of a non-blogging friend, I opened up yet another facebook account (after being unceremoniously kicked off Facebook long ago). The non-blogger wanted to encourage a group of us from grad school to link up there to stay in contact or whatever. So I set up my account.
But, unfortunately, I did something stupid. The name I used is like my blogger name.
Consequently, blogging people found me quickly. So now I have bloggers and non-bloggers on my facebook friends list. In addition, I managed to find other non-bloggers that I hadn’t heard from in ages. But if I connect to them, they will see this Jon (was) in Michigan kind of name. If they Google it? It might lead them here!
I really don’t like non-blogging people finding me here. Its easy enough to find me by googling Jon and chocolate (which is how my running partner found me). But if too many people find me, then I will be forever worrying about what I am saying (like my very favorite childish rants).
I went into my facebook profile to change the name, but they gave that warning again about “fake” names:
Before confirming your name change request, please read the following.
- Your Facebook profile must be attached to your real name.
- You must include your full name.
- Celebrity names, nicknames, or other fake names are not allowed and will not be approved.
- Obscenity, curses, and swear words are not allowed and will not be approved.
- ISn’t~ ThIs <3 AnN0YiNg 2 ReAd? Non-standard capitalization and special characters are not allowed and will not be approved.
- Do not try to combine sentences into one word; Jane Lookatmysupercoolnewnickname Smith will not be approved.
- We review all name changes, so this will take approximately 24 hours.
That’s how I got kicked off last time. I asked about a different problem with the program and it flagged my account and I was instantly suspended. And no, I don’t want to use my real name. I know my real name is easy to find if you are a good stalker (like I am), but I don’t want to completely throw caution to the wind. And alot of bloggers know me on LinkedIn, but its not directly connected to the blog. And I know there are some bloggers out there who are on LinkedIn but definitely do not want to connect with people from the blogging world simply because they don’t want that link to their real life (its, ok, I know you didn’t accept the connection because of that, and not because you think I’m a creep. I think).
Ugh. So if I am not being diligent in keeping up Facebook, its because I actually don’t know what to do with the account. Do I just go ahead and make friends and let the chips fall where they may? Do I shut it down?
Why is social networking more complicated than real life?





