For me, giving away too much personal information about myself evoked an image of a Hannibal Lector finding where I live, stalking me and eating me with a nice Chianti and faber beans.

Social media has exploded this private little world we live in. Where once we only used nicks/handles/aliases – now many use REAL names. Suddenly we want to share what we are doing with complete strangers, network with strangers for business, follow them, subscribe to them, add them as friends on Facebook and share their information and knowledge with our friends.

We strive for a conversation with our colleagues, customers and readers, and post blogs, often with a lot of personal details.

This article from The Times Online describes some incidents where bloggers were approached in everyday life by complete strangers who knew all sorts of family details of the blogger. Although this family information was posted on a blog and therefore in the public domain, it can come as a shock when the realisation hits home that complete strangers actually read this stuff and know all about you and your family.

The entire human race is based on communication and the desire to express ourselves, so it is no surprise that social media is just one more step in the online evolution. Think back over the years to times where you have eaten at a great restaurant or seen an awesome movie, or even read a book that shocked you. You couldn’t wait to tell all your friends about it. Love viral marketing! This desire to share something wonderful or something shocking is the foundation of social media.

With the Internet, if you deal with a great business, or are really happy with a product you have bought, see a fantastic website or read an informative post, you link to it, write about it and share it with your friends. This is also the case with a knowledgeable person in a particular industry. You want to know what they know! You follow them on Twitter, add them as a friend on Facebook, subscribe to their posts, network with them through LinkedIn and seek to acquire a piece of this special knowledge.

So, with writing this blog, I faced the dilemma of whether to offer links for my social networks. Would I or wouldn’t I? Is this important? What will be the benefit to the reader, the business and to myself? Maybe my biggest problem isn’t a Hannibal Lector. Maybe it is the thought that no one will want to do the social dance with me. I will be the social wallflower.

You will see the Blax social icons on the homepage. Feel free to subscribe to this post, link to me or follow me. I promise not to bore you with details about what I ate for breakfast or what my dream was last night. This blog has the goal of sharing knowledge and discussing online trends in marketing.

If you are Hannibal Lector, I am the one with the Rottweiler at the door.

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