What's in a name?
Friday, August 10, 2007
Imagine your office colleagues calling you by the user name you put on your blog. It might soon as well happen. Blogging has taken over a serious turn and bloggers are known by their blogs. Where blogs add a qualification in your resumes, you might as well know the importance of where to use your original name and where not.
When we talk about corporate or business blogging it gets more important to include your name than just a recognition issue.
Popularity Strike- The time and efforts you put in your blog may bring you to the edge of the success and fame. Regretting at that point won’t help, where nobody will actually know you with your real name. You might reach a point where you receive a call from New York Times and they call you FunkyPolly. Trying to induce your real name will not be easy. A company hiring you might also need a proof of your blog been authored by your real name. We have the same problem when approving blogs for Blogging to Fame contest.
Credibility- When serious blogging and advisory blogs are concerned, your readers trust your ability to provide credible information and solutions they are looking for. Your identity builds credibility. Providing your original details helps people to believe you, and help you to lay foundation of taking your online career to the next step.
It is easy to be an expert of your niche as you read and write about it all the time. If you blog under pseudonym you will never get the credit you deserve from it. Moreover, people like to hear from you than your expert online disguise.
Fake Name Issues- In the age of technology and social media, where you build connections, networks and integrate you work life with your personal, you will often get stuck with the two name issue. Dual identity has always fragmented trust, and it can go as far to get you considered as unauthentic. It does not have to be that way, but that is how people will generally tend to take it. Do not create walls between you and your readers with a pseudonym.
Sexual harassment- If you think a username can hide you from online sexual harassment, think again. It is very true that women bloggers get harassed more than men do, but then office harassment is more serious than online. So when you do not stop going to office then why hide under a fake name. The harassment will anyways subject to you, whether under a pseudonym or not. Girls have got smart with experience to handle harassment. Real life teaches them this since they are twelve and a street Romeo winks or whistles at them.
One Place that should hold details about you is the ‘About Me’ Page.
About us/me- The ‘About us’ should hold details of your offline career as well. Do not lie about yourself or your qualifications. Your experience can help somebody. Write about your hobbies and interest. Give it a personal touch. It should reflect your identity and yet your seriousness about the subject you are blogging about. You can include a little about your experiences regarding the same. Use your creativity to define your style.
If your visitor likes your way of your writing and bringing up issues, he would definitely like to know more about you. If you use any analytics service you would often notice that more often than not people click your ‘about me’ page. Finding no information about you may make them think about your credibility. But there are still certain places where it is my sincere advice not to use your name at all.
It’s a time of change, a time to be true to yourself and your readers. They give you their most important thing- TRUST.
Divya
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Labels: Better Blogging
14 Comments:
Buffy ;)
Leanne
An avatar can be specific if used properly, and from what I gather many are quite happy with mine, if not I do encourage comments.
Morgan is quite right in as much as many bloggers will use old or fake pictures and give away no personal information.
Great post! In my field (financial planning) I am shocked that I am one of the few bloggers who writes under my real name. As you said, people do not want advice from an anonymous guru. Without my name my advice has no credibility.
Thanks for saying so concisely what I felt.
i think you will be better Blog Politician.when i read your article i was able to see what to meant from your heart....
Great Post
rony john
Collin as far as being clear about you Identity in your 'about us' page. The point is being true to your readers. Whether that be Avatars or Name, your readers have the right to get your correct information. After all they place their trust in you.
for now, we've both converged....dont know how long it'll be til it haunts me -but i wish i only used my real name online ... thanks for the info!
http://www.jeanzei.com
http://www.thesugarmama.org
commented by moksh juneja, 3:29 AM