It really depends. What are your personal interests? Are they aligned to what you are doing professionally? Should you keep your personal and professional identities completely separate online? I think there isn’t a definitive answer. It boils down to the individual. How much you want a potential employer to be able to find out about you and how strong your desire for privacy is, are questions that will lead us closer to the answer we are looking for.
There are people that live with their identities in public because they have to, either because they work in public under their own names or assumed identities, or because they prefer to be seen as an expert, guru or an authoritative figure with their comments and public interactions on the web. However there are other people who prefer a layer of anonymity so they can speak their mind, comment and write what they really feel, and join the communities they prefer without worrying about who might find them there later.
I’m leaning more towards the side of keeping my online identities separate. By being relatively anonymous, i am free to comment where i want to, say what i want, and be an active participant in any community i wish, without fear that my professional portfolio or career will be affected by it. In addition to that, i can decide who sees what, and what information is available to a potential employer, business partner, family member, or anyone else looking for information on me and what i have been up to. This allows me to have the option to let some people into both worlds while keeping most people in the ones i prefer.
I would like to end this post encouraging you to think about a hypothetical scenario. Imagine this happened to you :
Lifehacker.com gave a detailed answer to the above situation that i feel is worth 5 minutes of your time as it is likely that we might be in a similar situation in the future! Here is a sneak peek to a much more comprehensive response here
References
Henry, A., 2012. Lifehacker. [Online]
Available at: http://lifehacker.com/5896413/what-do-i-do-when-my-employer-wants-to-be-too-social[Accessed 1 December 2014].
Info-Graphic- Available at: http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/Library/researchacma/Research-reports/digital-identity[Accessed 1 December 2014]
isaaclye 
Hi Issac! Great post on digital identities. Thanks for the insight on the three main digital identities and considering people who sees living their identities as a need and not a want.
Have you ever consider what are some of the disadvantages of keeping your online identities separate? Will you consider yourself as someone who manages your online identities well? My research on the control of our digital identities tells me that it is very important for us to own our digital identity. I believe you are well aware of the reasons why, do you? Here are two links that I came across which I think may interests you.
1. http://techonomy.com/conf/te14/perspectives/180-shift-owning-identity/simple/
2. http://www.jackhylan.net/infoage/uncategorized/who-owns-your-digital-identity/
The first link is about this guy, Stan Stalnaker selling his product, HUB ID which helps you to know when your identity has been accessed etc. Have you seen something like this before?
On the second link, what are your thoughts on what the author said about ownership of digital identity?
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Hey Elisha, thanks for the comment.
I think the disadvantage of keeping one’s personal and professional identity separate is that is splits your audience.
But i think that is more relevant to people who have an audience/fans they need to connect with on a regular basis.
HubID is an intriguing product. It seems that it is trying to “patent” our online identity and allow us license it out to people
who are using our data for profit. It seems pro-consumer, but if you are an organization that collects huge amounts of data to serve relevant ads,
it will a huge hit to your margins. I’m not sure if Facebook and Google would be keen on the idea.
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Hello Isaac! 🙂 After reading your blog post, I have come up with several questions that I wanted to ask you about. Here it goes, brace yourself! 😀
Your interesting info-graphics caught my eye, by showing us that our three main digital identities consist of transnational, social and professional. Since you stated that you are leaning more towards the anonymity side, which digital identities would you take up? Besides those three main digital identities, are there other identities will you take up on based on your own online experience?
In additional, I found out that anonymity and authenticity are far at the opposite ends of the spectrum (Reference 1). Hence within this spectrum, where do you foresee yourself to land at? At the far end of being anonymous or somewhere in the middle?
Overall, your post really set me thinking about having another online identity for transnational purposes. 🙂 Good job done on this post!
References
Reference 1:
Why Facebook and Google’s Concept of ‘Real Names’ Is Revolutionary – The Atlantic. 2014. Why Facebook and Google’s Concept of ‘Real Names’ Is Revolutionary – The Atlantic. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/08/why-facebook-and-googles-concept-of-real-names-is-revolutionary/243171/. [Accessed 02 December 2014].
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Hey Xiu Zhen, i believe you can have a layer of anonymity and still be authentic in your interactions on the web. I don;t think being authentic means that you have to expose every single detail about your life. I think i am selectively authentic 😉 I guess i’m somewhere in the middle?
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