Think of a topic or issue about which you’ve switched your opinion. Why the change?

Online Anonymity vs Authentic Self

I’m not exactly sure when times changed but back in the day it used to be a thing to be as anonymous as possible online.

Internet profiles, email addresses and screen names were always so, oh how shall I put it—ambiguous—in nature that if an individual really wanted to find out who the real person behind the screen was, they would need to engage in and conduct an online conversation that went somewhere along the lines of this…

a/s/l

Individuals whose screen names contained their area code attached to some cheesy moniker that was both prefixed AND suffixed with “xX” combined with letters with alternating capitalization—these were the cool kids.

Let this trend never come back please.

Thank God times have changed. Nowadays, with social media giants like Facebook and LinkedIn, for example, you are required to use your real name, and for good reason too.

The trend these days is authenticity. Not only does making yourself more transparent online give you credibility amongst others, it’s actually encouraged to do so.

Enter “Personal Branding”.

The internet has become saturated with so many people, organizations and businesses trying to promote, advertise and sell you on products or ideas that it is just so overwhelming now.

In a world like that, who can we trust? How do we trust? It’s come to a point when someone finally realized that if we want to be heard, we need to take it back to the basics. Connect with others in human terms. Be real.

Take my blog for example. Everything I write and share here is extension of my physical self. How I act and express myself online is no different than how I would in real life. I believe it’s this authenticity that builds trust with others.

You’re not doing anyone any favors when you try to be someone you’re not. Discover who you are and be proud.

This is part of an effort to improve as a writer and to get myself writing more. So as not to focus so much on perfection and formatting, when responding to these prompts, I use more of a stream-of-conscious style of writing. One of my goals is to become faster at getting my ideas out of my head and onto a physical platform, while keeping in mind to gradually build up my skill at doing so in a more fluid and concise manner. These prompts come from the ebook: 365 Days of Writing Prompts by The Daily Post at WordPress.com