A random stranger blogged about me recently as though I wouldn’t know about it. But I’ve got Google alerts set up, you see.
The moment she hit “publish” on her blog, Google sent me an email about:
http://about-the-arts.blogspot.com/2007/11/inhibitions.html
She wasn’t bitching about me or anything. If anything it’s on the positive side. But I found it so interesting. As I was reading it, I felt like
- I was a strange side character in an episode from someone else’s life story.
- An unlikely window opened into the story of my life.
I never expected my random conversation in social contexts could affect someone in that way.
Why did she have to use my full name anyway. Did she secretly want me to read that? If so, I guess using just “Khailee” is also fine (I have Google Alerts set up for everything I do or work on).
I decided not to leave a comment, or let her know I stumbled upon her blog. It would steal the honestly away from her journal.
And if she ends up reading about THIS blog post of mine about her, that’ll be pretty funny…
On a related note, a friend once complained that she felt her privacy was invaded by cameraphone wielding bloggers and the internet.
I’d like to think it can be a good thing…
Knowing that your antics can be easily recorded and shared across the world (in a matter of moments via a facebook photo tag?) would make you less likely to do things you don’t want people to know about.
As much as the internet gives you avenues for social anonymity, it seems social accountability is part of the package.
