Small Strokes Big Oaks

Well, not so much my internet, but my multiple profiles and websites have me totally boggled.  How do I get so many?!  And what do I do with them all now?!

What profiles do I have, you may ask?  Well…

This site – Small Strokes – for starters.  This is where I write my serious feminist stuff.  It is really very serious, and I treat this site seriously.  I do leave my other less serious doings for elsewhere, although you can probably see a few of them in my sidebar.

Then there’s Equality 101, of course.  My brainchild and a group blog for teachers.  We’re on a planning break now, but that will be back up and running and MUCH more structured with MUCH better content very soon.

And I’m on Twitter and Facebook (You don’t get my Facebook link.  Sorry!  It’s private.)  Those are where I socialize and share information with other people, although it is a constant battle there to keep up a professional air.  Those forums are so off-the-cuff, that it is easy to slip into a more colloquial style, but I worry about who’s finding what, you know?

I’m also on Tumblr, and that’s a more relaxed space for me.  I post pictures, quotes, general text and links – basically things that make me happy.  I take that much less seriously than I take this site and Equality 101.  I don’t feel pressure to keep it up, and I don’t feel pressure to post things only related to activism, which is nice.

Then, you’ve got the standard other sites that everyone seems to have now: Goodreads, foursquare, Google Reader, Instapaper, Pandora, Yelp, Nike+, Blogher, Shewrites… and probably a few more I’m forgetting.

The thing is, most of these I maintain from my phone.  In fact, I rarely ever visit the Goodreads, foursquare, Google Reader, Instapaper, or Yelp sites on my computer.  I like the iPhone apps for them better, actually (although the Goodreads app is missing some functionality I’d like…).  And Pandora doesn’t require maintenance at all.  And I really don’t ever use Blogher or Shewrites; my information really is just sitting there collecting computer dust.

But I do sort of feel now like I am just in way too many places.  It seems to me like anyone anywhere could find anything they want to about me.  I go back and forth between shutting lots of these sites down – What if my students found me?  What if my employers found me? What do my friends who don’t really care about any of this stuff or buy into the internet stuff think of me when they read this stuff?  Does anyone even read this stuff? Then I think – It might be good if students or employers found me!  I write good stuff!  I think critically about my job outside of my job!  This is good!  So what if my friends don’t care or think I’m “weird.”  And of course people are reading; even if they’re not commenting, I have quite a few hits when I actually get around to posting! Plus, it’s fun to connect on Goodreads and Pandora and foursquare and Google Reader.  It’s almost like we really do use all of these sites to build well-rounded personalities on the internet and share those interests with others.  This can be really cool and really creepy all at once – maybe more daunting than creepy, because there is so much pressure to maintain sites and personae and, you know, do a good job at it all.  Plus, you know, these things can be serious motivational tools!  My Nike + and Goodreads accounts have stimulated my reading and workout habits, and my Pandora account has exposed me to some awesome music!  Foursquare, though?  The verdict is still out on that one.  I think having people know what I think is much different than having them know what I am doing at any given point in time.

I’m still undecided about how to go about keeping or not keeping all of these sites.  Summer is coming up, and grad school is almost done (MAY 19!!!!!), so I’ll have a lot more time to play around with things and see what I like and what I don’t like and think about what to get rid of or what not to get rid of.  I just stepped back and looked at my bookmarks and iPhone apps the other day and was like “WOW!  That’s a lot of stuff!”

How do you feel about online personae?  How many sites are you on?  How do you maintain them all, if you do?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.