2026 retrospective
This turned out to be terrifyingly accurate. The “slightly altered personality” is now called your “personal brand” and it’s mandatory for professional survival. Cambridge Analytica proved that user data can shape elections. Instagram and TikTok made the “act of being observed changes behavior” effect orders of magnitude worse. ReadWriteWeb itself shut down in 2012 — link now points to the Wayback Machine.
This turned out to be terrifyingly accurate. The “slightly altered personality” is now called your “personal brand” and it’s mandatory for professional survival. Cambridge Analytica proved that user data can shape elections. Instagram and TikTok made the “act of being observed changes behavior” effect orders of magnitude worse. ReadWriteWeb itself shut down in 2012 — link now points to the Wayback Machine.
Exactly the words that run around my mind these days:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_end_of_online_anonymity.php
When we reach the point where online anonymity has ended, instead of getting to be who we really are, the fact that we’ve become so aware of the fact that we’re always being recorded, photographed, tracked, and traced, will have actually created a slightly altered personality instead. Like reality TV show contestants, the act of being observed will change our behavior. Our personal brand image will become our public identity and therefore our identity.
I think these words describe exactly the “facebook effect”.
What do you think?