The day after I had set up my blog and I was all too proud of having finished the work I had done on the site, I had a discussion with my friend Dave Roth about the very idea of a blog, married with my website, which, in many very certain terms, is a kind of resume. So he asked me this:

Do I have to censor myself knowing that…

…employers might be reading??

It had really stumped me. Many blogs are written by anonymous writers, or are written by people whose opinions are the very attraction for readers. The “blogosphere” has not only become the world’s diary, but our modern day printing press, in many cases our news outlets. It is the 21st century celebration of free speech. Most people when they start a blog, they are interested in joining this technological uprising.

But in my case, is it different? With the knowledge that I offer this site as a means for professional self-advertisement, do I really have the freedom to say whatever I want to say? To be as personal as I want to be?

Traditionally, the idea of a resume be that it present to any potential employer a rosy, spotless view of a person’s qualifications. It is a static document. It is free of opinion. Now it’s dynamic. It’s a website. Now, it is inevitable that my employers, (yes, even my parents) end up on Facebook, seeing my pictures, reading my Twitter updates.

It’s too late. Social privacy has been stripped of our web-savvy society. The idea of keeping sectors of our lives in neat, conveniently separate compartments, is no longer a norm. The norm is to share.

But then, so what? I’ve got nothing to hide, right?

Hey guys, I’ll tell you right now – I’m not a hater. For those of you who know me, I don’t belligerently attack other people’s opinions or mash my own in other’s faces. After a great deal of deliberation, I realized – I’m pretty safe writing a blog. Frankly, I think the idea of having people get to know me and my opinions is good for business. After all, art is about expression, and expression can only be done with an opinion, right?

But then Dave brought up a few good examples. Let’s say, I work on a job for PepsiCo or CocaCola. Without disclosing my personal beverage of choice, if I happened to mention that in one of my writings…would that work against me in my chances for employment?

Or let’s say I post some iPhone photos of someone’s vanity plates. Is someone going to look at the work and think, “Jeepers, that image quality looks really gross I can’t hire him!”?

The only thing I can hope in both of these circumstances is that professionals will ultimately use their reasonable judgement. There’s a limit to how much censoring I will do. I can only hope that the soda companies of the world will know, that if hired, I’ll work hard for you no matter what brand is my actual favorite. Or that that picture really was just a quick snapshot from an iPhone.

And now, for some REAL Facebook foolishness… [click here]

I also want all of your opinions. What do you think people should do when they make a site like this?