Rethinking Anonymity

Anonymity is on my mind again.

I am generally against anonymity, but as ‘The Social Graph’ is the new buzz phrase, it pays to rethink the giant social graphs of anonymity.

The timeline and microblogging have changed the world wide web yet again. This is like the 5th time in the internet’s short history. I think TV has changed once…there were once cigarette ads and now there are just drug ads with 45 second purple piss and restless leg side effect disclaimers from a super fast male voice. I guess cable and high definition would make it three changes, but let’s move on.

I am always going to overshare. I figure the 5 percent of messages I would like back in my fingers and brain will get lost in the other 95 percent and the general laziness of due diligence. Right now I only work for my limited partners who care about returns, not what I say in my blog, and my investors in Stocktwits who pretty much know I have a lazy mouth connected to fast fingers (always trying to politically control it) with great intentions.

For the rest of the world, I/we need to remember that our bosses will focus on the one mistake. As I meet and interact with thousands of people on Stocktwits and Twitter that use an alias, but that I respect and follow, I ALWAYS ask…why not use a real name. I know most of their names, but the rest of the public they are sharing with does not.

To paraphrase the most often response:

In my one world of stocks and investing, I totally understand it. I really only care about what you say and when you say it. If you are smart, share ideas and make me laugh, you get tons of wiggle room. I love ideas and I love them often and consistently so that they are part of my workflow. I respect the follow up as well, both good and bad because we have a pretty tough crowd of early adopters ready to bury you in real-time and forever if you don’t have integrity. We all make mistakes and under any microscope are seriously flawed but in the now web you better be transparent about your wins AND losses. What your name is, your gender, your race, religion, or weight matters less.

The world of anonymity is evolving. The game mechanics of brand and brains and reach is overcoming the one boring game mechanic of anonymity – hate.

It is why the web is bouncing back stronger than ever and is underestimated.