Public is the New Private

If you are still worried about your information being on the web, get over it.  Google your phone number and you’ll see your name and address with a link to Google Maps.

That information has been online for at least a couple of years.  Has it hurt you? I doubt it.  You’d be better served to set up a Google profile so that people will read information about you that you would like them to see.

Currently 74.2% of the American population is online.  That leaves about 80 million people who are still not using the interwebs, but their information is most likely on the interwebs even though they’re late adopters.

The opportunities of being ubiquitous online are so far beyond the risks that it’s hard not to laugh when people express fear of baddies on the internets.  Do they exist? Yes.  Just like you’ll find a sex offender in your neighborhood if you search for them.  Have they shown up at your door lately? Probably not.

Yes they’re a threat, but the perceived threat is huge compared to the actual chance of a real threat.  Trying to be invisible online is about as effective as moving to a remote cave to be protected from a sex offender since they’re in every metropolitan neighborhood.  Studies since 2005 have repeatedly shown that identity theft, the largest privacy concern for most people, happens less often, is less harmful and is less costly online rather than offline.

Evidence continually points to the fact that being online, being able to be found and building your personal brand are incredibly beneficial and those who are ignoring this are doing so at their own peril.  The web is evolving into being the social web and those who embrace connecting to Influencers and becoming Influencers will be the ones to enjoy the most personal and professional benefits from this shift.

As Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, recently said at the Crunchies conference, “Public is the new social norm.”