I applied for two jobs this year. Interviewed for both. Didn’t get the first. Got the second.
In both instances, during the interview someone mentioned having read either this blog or recent tweets. They knew I was a dad, that I love good beer and occasionally make my own, and even pointed out a typo.
I don’t know why but each time the conversation left me feeling a little uncomfortable. Certainly, I should have been prepared for just such a conversation. I have been preaching to students that they should be aware of the manner in which they use social media for years. This blog certainly is not a journal on my nightstand only to be read by me.
And yet, each time it or some other media was mentioned, I could feel myself blushing and getting squeamish. Wondering, just what embarrassing item they may have stumbled upon.
My first post in this space was in 2006, and it has a typo in it. In fact, the first few posts have typos. Now, seven years later, should I go back and retroactively fix them?
I don’t think I will. I, rather, see it as an evolution. It’s pretty clear in the beginning that I was trying to figure out just what to do with this thing. It’s evolved from short comments on the weather, to a device in which I explored social media and its use in schools, to most recently, my trials through fatherhood. To go back in time, and revise, remove or reprise previous posts would, to me, take away from the evolution of this space.
All that being said, it was a good reminder that this is very much a public space. As much as I sometimes treat it like that journal on my nightstand, it isn’t private. It’s totally searchable, and it’s here for a long time. If I’m not writing something that I can be proud of and have total strangers read and gather an impression of me, then I probably shouldn’t be writing it and definitely not here.
@drewmillikin 