Guest Blog Two: Who am I?

Well I persuaded Liam to let me do a guest blog - god only knows why, I’m hardly the most interesting person in the world.

Or am I? After all, how someone portrays himself online can be quite different to how he is in reality. For all anyone knows, I could be typing this whilst snorting coke off a dwarf’s back (I’m not). And this is something I’ve quickly come to realise on twitter. What and how much we choose to share about ourselves can really change how we are seen.

When I’m interacting with other tweeters I sometimes wonder if what I’m seeing in those 140 characters is even remotely like the real person and sometimes it’s easy to draw the conclusion it’s not. I like person X on twitter, but what is he like in person?  Does person Y really do what he claims to do? Are there really enough hours in the day for person Z to get that much sex?

In some ways I think this can be a bit healthy. Twitter gives us an outlet for those aspects of our personalities we may normally repress a little. I’m a bit of a flirt but on twitter I’m much more flirty; on cruising apps like Scruff I will say things to guys I would never dream of saying to them in person, or am a lot more forward than I would be if I saw them in a bar. Everything in moderation, and all that.

However, it’s also easy to use this anonymity and selectiveness to build up - for want of a better phrase - a cult of personality. Just like in real life, twitter can be full of little cliques, and these cliques are often little fan clubs, with one central person having their egos fluffed, or occasionally a mutual appreciation society. Don’t get me wrong, I like being perked up or having a laugh with people, and like being retweeted or whatever, but I’ve deliberately tried not to post anything that comes across as needy; please twitter, love me, validate me, make me feel special. I don’t need that and have unfollowed several people for it (which in turn occasionally spawned its own little #gaydrama attention-whoredom).

It’s a fine line. On social networking sites, I want people to get to know the real me but equally like the opportunity to let that part of me that I normally put a lid on to run a little wild. I just hope I don’t wind up doing the exact opposite.