In the web world, what is the difference between private and public? Where is the boundary between what I want you to know and what I want to keep to myself, or maybe share with others but not you?

I was speaking to a couple of friends over the weekend. G had finally signed up to Facebook, rationalised his decision by saying it was voyeuristic, then ended the week – after three of four people had tracked him down and he was getting messages from all points – stating he felt that he had boarded a runaway train.

Last night, J happened to mention that he had noticed a group I had set up for a couple of other friends. Not really a problem other than it gave me the sense of being watched, and I woke up to the public-ness of my online profile.

PASSING STRANGERS

Isn’t that why a blogger blogs – to be watched? If not, then may as well keep a diary. The blogsphere IS public; Facebook IS public. Certainly, it’s possible to limit access (only four people can access the group I mentioned) but to start, one wants to attract as many readers as possible. I want you to read me.

Of course, as long as the readers are the RIGHT readers. Like a film star who starts to resent privacy intrusion after years of chasing fame, I’m starting to wonder where the barriers are. Having strangers get close is uncomfortable. Should I have taken a nom de web before starting out on this integrated path of social networking?

J told me that users under 30 have understood this from the off. They think nothing of adapting 10, maybe 20 online personae – and hide behind them all. Don’t ask me how they keep track: there’s probably a software app to help. But it gives them freedom to express what they really think and feel, even if it’s non-attributable.

A neat solution for those wanting to do or say things they won’t do in the physical world. And great for younger folk trying to find out who they are – like trying on different styles in a shoeshop.

THIS AND THAT, HERE AND THERE

But for G and J and I, we’ve chosen to be ‘ourselves’, which means that the social filters are already on. Even so, there are some things that we say to our friends that we wouldn’t say to a business colleagues, and vice versa. In the physical world, that separation is straightforward to keep – I see colleagues in THIS location, I meet friends in THAT location. But in the websphere, that’s much harder.

(Even the physical boundaries are blurring: in my first 10 years in business, I always wore a collar and tie to work. Always. Even if I was working at home, I’d still put on a collar and tie, just to remind myself that I was working. And when I’d finished the day I’d remove the vestments of work and ‘become’ someone else. Now that it’s dress down Friday every day of the week, that differentiation has gone too).

Technology tools have done a lot to take each of us through the private/public boundary. The first time I saw an executive at IBM take his laptop on holiday I was astonished: surely he wanted a break from work? His reply: “There are no longer vacations, just different locations”.

SET OF TOOLS

The physical mobility and the access to information certainly makes for a different relationship between work and play, and has received a lot of coverage and debate. Everything from EU directives on working hours to work/life balance. It’s not easy to find an answer, but at least we have a vocabulary and set of tools with which to think about the problem.

The exchanges over the weekend have highlighted for me that on the subject of the virtual boundaries of privacy, we have barely begun the conversation.