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I've found that, even when you try to present yourself as "almost perfect" and a very interesting person who never makes mistakes, who you are will eventually show so why delay the process? I have only one account and I mix my professional life with my personal life. I'm lucky to be able to say that I've found amazing friends through professional networking and at work... and the reason we connected was that they saw something about my private persona that they liked.

Thad,

I have heard this question asked several times by both citizens, parents, professionals and corporate communications directors, all coming to the same conclusion...you can't seperate these personas and still maintain some authenticity or transparency to your overall character. For those people that I have seen try to seperate, they have all come across as "Hiding" something...IF you want to hide something, then create a "anonymous" profile and express yourself through that (although someone will find out who you are sooner or later) although that is not the point of "social" media...

best of luck, thanks for the good question.

Tyler

Hi Thad,

Its a great question, I pondered over it many times.

Good eg is : Zappos

Now Tony Hsieh, CEO of Z , maintains the Twitter account,  which is a perfect blend of his personal and professional life at Zappos. I think  if anyone is able to maintain that balance then its great .

My personal opinion is "same" as well,  I will definitely  try and give a personal touch to my professional account. Visitors to your online accounts are curious to know your other dimensions as well.

In case someone who is not comfortable in mixing both, seperate accounts are best suited in that case

Great Question:

Cheers

:-Aditi

When I started joining Twitter, Friendfeed, Facebook, etc.  I too was torn on professional versus personal. I started very business and then found it easier and more enjoyable to just be myself. I figure that as long as I'm not giving TMI, it's good to show personality. Plus, if I ever do business with anyone from my social network they'll already know a little about me and what they'll be getting themselves into. :D 

Lori

Thank goodness! Someone else feels like me!

I have been grappling with this question for a while. I started using social media solely for personal use, and so my profiles linked to my personal blog and my Twitter handle was a nickname-based username. Then, I began following marketing professionals and entrepreneurs on Twitter, and started using it for professional reasons... it didn't make sense for me to continue being personal with that type of audience... but I was hesitant to "change my personality" because I thought I should be me, and not compromise on that.

Eventually, I did crumble under the pressure to be professional, so Ichanged my Twitter handle and started linking to my LinkedIn profile and began a professional blog (also working on a professional website of my own). The content of what I say hasn't really changed or been censored, perhaps I'm a little more "interesting on purpose", but otherwise I haven't changed what I say - just how people know/find me.

I think you can choose to keep your identities separate - maybe create a personal Twitter a/c and a professional one (although Twitter does not yet allow you to link two usernames to one email address, hope that changes soon) - but that might get very tiring, very fast. It may just be easier to have one identity that balances out work and play - at least that's what worked for me.

FYI, you can follow me on Twitter @zeenatrasheed.

Your conclusion is on-point. I always think it's best to be yourself online. Not only is it extremely genuine, but it allows you to connect to people on different levels of formality (business contacts and friends in one place). Obviously, there are some sharing concerns with your private life that you have to watch out for, but that shouldn't be anything new for folks that have been online for a while.

I still reserve my Facebook account for primarily just friends and social media folks I've actually met in person or have had extensive contact with. Other than that, the field is open.

Chris Brogan (twitter.com/chrisbrogan) and Jason Falls (twitter.com/jasonfalls) would be two great people to discuss this with.