I have to say, this brought me up short. All my humanity - my generosity, my meanness, my sarcasm and cynicism, my joyous delight, my occasional unkindness, laid out for some unknown person (or machine) to peruse at leisure? Waiting to catch you unawares, like a sly affair come back to haunt hubristic politicians.
I've had a conversation also with some who say that CVs may soon be obsolete. Instead, recruiters will view posts, online articles and Twitter feeds as proof of your professionalism and proficiency. Nervously glancing back at previous Twitter feeds, I may be already doomed.
But also, think of the stress of being always reasonable and measured, always on message, bright and insightful every time you make a comment - never relaxing, always on show.
A few years ago, there was a lot of comment about "your personal brand". I particularly loathed this idea, primarily because it treated real living people like commodities - soap powder or a bar of chocolate. But as David Ogilvy once said, people aren't inanimate and as such can be unpredictable. A Snickers bar, for example, can't have a bad day.
We are in short, human, and we have completely human feelings. So consistency of brand experience can get a bit more complex if you're talking about real people delivering it. And indeed, this is what you see if you look at my timeline. Someone who's been cross, elated, tired, defensive, supportive, joyful - prone to "the heart ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to".
Perhaps it is alarming. Then again, perhaps it's an illustration of what working with me would really be like, and if it's basing the recruitment process on more realistic data, maybe that's the real benefit. This only stands of course if my online persona is honest, rather than carefully crafted. Anyone looking at it, can probably tell that it is!
But there are some interesting questions about privacy, the right to a personal (rather than JUST a work) life. Whether you might ask for an amnesty for your Tweets, or whether you need to explain and chart your change of views within your online presence.
What's your online persona like? Is it truly you or a PR-ed version? Do you stand up to the scrutiny of social media watchers? Have you occasionally been human - and come to regret it?
