Years ago Nadine wrote a post about the way we present ourself online vs who we are in “real life” and it’s something I’ve frequently thought about ever since.
I try to keep my blog personality as close to how I am in real life but the fact is it will never match 100%. There’s always some parts of me I’m leaving off, or other parts I’m enhancing without even realizing.
For instance I feel like I’m louder in my blog and more outgoing. I’ve come to this conclusion after I’ve had several of you tell me you can’t believe it when I say I’m an introvert and that I prefer the corner of the room to the front. I guess something about my writing makes me seem otherwise?
Just for the record I’m not shy, I just usually like to observe more than talk when I’m in a new setting. And it only seems to be getting worse as I get older… and have less and less human contact because being a hermit is just SO FUN.
Anyway.
It’s not even just bloggers who have online personas, I think we all do. Everyone who uses Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, ext. So I guess I should retract what I said and say everyone but my dad has an online persona because he doesn’t use any type of social media. He has Linkedin, but he’s never been on it and he still calls it “La-Kid-Ean.” But that’s beside the point.
The interesting part about this whole online persona thing is that it sometimes makes me feel like I have multiple personalities when I really look at it. Because it’s not just my blog personality, there’s also who I am on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat… yikes I do a log of self promotion. gag.
So let’s take a closer look. In my humble opinion, this is how I view my different personas.
INSTAGRAM:
The worst version of myself, I think. I try to approach this app playfully, but honestly normal-me isn’t really into the persona I sometimes present. I’m not saying I’m above it, because clearly I’m not, I just don’t particularly like the whole “look at all of my new stuff and how cool I’m trying to make my life look” aspect of Instagram.
Online and in real life, I’m most comfortable with self deprecation, so maybe that’s why Instagram kinda eats my soul sometimes. Even when I present a pretty photo the voice inside of me is always screaming caption it with, “don’t let this pic fool you, I’m a big old sloppy mess still,” which maybe isn’t the best route either? And I know it’s my choice to use Instagram the way that I am so I have no one to blame but myself, but given my job and the way I pay my bills, I sometimes feel like I don’t have a choice.
Boo who. Feel bad for me and my HARD hard life. Ugh, see what Instagram makes me do?
SNAPCHAT:
The person I am on snapchat might be as close as it comes to who I really am (when I’m alone) scary huh? I’m odd AF. I talk in weird voices and accents all. day. long. And I talk to Harlow way too much, just ask him.
I also get jollies off of doing really stupid shit that probably doesn’t humor anyone else but myself. I don’t know why. I’ve just always been this way. And I can’t help it. Being a clown is fun to me. When I see something that bugs me or annoys me, the only way I can process it is by making my own, more heightened version of it. I guess I feel like Snapchat allows me the release from my dirty Instagram self.
TWITTER:
Meh. Do I have a persona on Twitter? Barely. I usually just show up here to test out a new joke and promote my blog posts. So I’d this is the most boring version of me.
FACEBOOK:
My get shit done persona. I have four different pages I’m always managing so it’s safe to say I’m a big time pusher on FB. I’m not here to play games, Facebook is all business to me. And a few stupid jokes and status updates…
And finally my BLOG:
I think my blog persona is a mix of everything mentioned above, plus some added emotion and vulnerability? And more animal talk.
Or maybe I’m just kidding myself here and I actually have no idea how people view me? I DON’T KNOW. And that thought makes me nervous. Internet world is weird.
What do you think?
How do you match up to your online persona? Do you think there’s a difference?
I never really thought about this… at not in the way of different social media platforms can be different aspects of your personality.. cool post! I'm a loser on Twitter.. I have no idea how to really use it, try to Tweet but doesn't really pan out.. FB and Blog I'm pretty much myself.. a little weird and sarcastic and don't takes things seriously often.. and Instagram?? that's my "I wanna be like Mike" side.. where I TRY and be cool.. but…
Girl, I love your SnapChat persona, haha. (And the blog one, for that matter.) All of them are good personas (Personi?). But the SnapChats seriously crack me up.
Same – I LOVE your snaps! They are sooooooooo freaking funny and I totally look forward to seeing them on my commute home from work 🙂
I love this post, it really gets you thinking about your personal online/in person persona.
I have 2 Instagrams, 1 Twitter, 1 snapchat, 1 Facebook, 1 Blog. and I think I'm about the same on each.
Instagram #1: It's a private insta, for friends and family, I made it private about 2 years back after a falling out with 2 recent friends of mine who I found out was taking screen shots of my posts and sending them to each other to talk shit about me and my life. and so, I keep to myself on that account and only post what I'm really proud to post. I'm not one of those "look at my new TV" types either.
Instagram #2: Is Public. and it's my Beauty (Makeup) outlet. I post a lot of my blogs on there and my makeup looks. As a freelance makeup artist and blogger you gotta promote some where. But I'm pretty straight forward there.
Twitter: Boring. Just a promotion site for me.
Facebook: My personal FB. I'm the exact same in person. weird. cool. funny. opinionated. shy. loud. Ashlee.
Blog: I like to say that I'm the same in person as I am on my blog. I guess on my blog I seem to "have it together" most of the time. but in real life I'm a hot mess.
-Ashlee Michelle
http://www.makeupandmodifieds.com
I totally miss Nadines blog 🙂 lol.
I do too. I check it from time to time hoping for a post..
Samesies. I follow her insta. Her wedding is this month!!!
You are totally killing it on posts this week. This is another winner! I hate who I have become on Instagram. Is that weird? I like to look at pretty photos and sometimes I will make the caption a little more accurate but let's get one thing straight…9 times out of 10 I'm sitting at my computer in my underwear, not at the beach. Also, I miss Nadine's blog!!!
Google "outgoing introvert". It's similar to what your'e describing. People always think I'm an extrovert but then I found that and it's on point.
Also – watching your snaps.. your voice is 100% not what I was expecting you to sound like! I don't know why but it threw me off at first! But they are always hilarious.
I am, but I'm also more business oriented. i agree that on snapchat I can be really weird. which is 100% my personality.
Love the honesty of this post– I think you nail pretty much 75% of female Insta user's thoughts on the platform (totally legit percentage…). And for the record, I really enjoy your weird Snapchat bits 😀 The "makeup tutorials" are my fav haha
Interesting because I've always just assumed you are playing it cool when you talk about being an introvert. I just imagine you going out a lot and having a good old time. Kind of funny the conclusions we draw about people we don't know.
I would like to say I am pretty dead on with my persona, but yet I am not at all. I am extremely introverted and shay as all heck. In real like I hate sharing anything, yet I write a blog where I share everything. Hmmm. It's like my blog is everything I am always thinking but never say out loud.
Like you, I'm an introvert who probably appears more extroverted online simply because I speak more.
I gotta say, I never really thought about it before but I think my online persona is damn near identical (if not, pretty close) to my real life one. I've had people say "you write the way you talk." I take it as a compliment even though they may mean it like, "you're not actually a good writer." Whatever. But in life I have a self-deprecating, sarcastic and silly sense of humor – but also have a more serious side. All of that is conveyed on my IG, FB, Twitter and blog. I REALLLLLLLY don't like seeing people portraying themselves inaccurately on social media. Be a real human, for the love of God!
I love your snapchats! Your snapchat is one of the only ones I drop everything to watch because it's so funny! I'd like to say that my online persona is pretty similar to my real life one, but I am so much more articulate online than in real life, but that's always a given because you have more time to process your thoughts online. Certain aspects of myself are enhanced with certain people, so my personality overall is probably a surprise to some that stumble upon my online avenues.
I think Twitter gets closest to the real me- sometimes I think it is closer to the real me than how I actually am in person. 140 characters of this is who i am and you can take it or leave it. Harder to do with people in real life because you can't make them magically disappear forever by clicking a button.
Snapchat is just me making really stupid jokes that I think are hilarious and everyone is kind enough not to inform me otherwise.
Facebook is the biggest lie, honestly. Gotta put up the front for family and such and (sad as it is) its just easier to filter the parts they want to see and pretend that's you're life. *shrugs* My tweeps understand the nerd; a lot of my IRLs don't, I guess.
Katsyxo.com
I think Twitter and my blog are the closest it comes to the "real me." I agree about Instagram. It's basically just a platform for people to make their lives seem more glamorous. I'm guilty of it too. I'm also an introvert but I think I come off less so on the internet.
My experience with each platform that I use:
Facebook: I use it to promote my blog posts, put up random pictures that I take (which are not filtered whatsoever–only the choice of photos, but even then, I show the good and the bad and the weird). I never hide behind any person that I am not.
Twitter: I mostly use it for posting blog posts, checking sports news live, and sometimes adding comments about said events. But, again, no hiding!
Blog: This is really where I show myself. I write like how I talk, and all of my posts come directly from my mind and heart, with little filtering (excluding opinions of specifically-named people).
Comment sections: I'm never a troll. I may be honest, but I won't use gratuitous put-downs, following the idea, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Particularly in the relative anonymity…
Snapchat, Pinterest, and Instagram: I don't use 'em.