Card.ly is now part of BusinessCard2.  Over the months to come, we plan to integrate Card.ly into BusinessCard2.  The result will be the largest network of web-enabled business cards on the planet.  Before any changes occur, we wanted to alert you to the integration plan.

90-day plan for current card.ly users:

1. Card.ly profiles will resolve to their current domains.  For example, your Cardl.y address http://cardly.com/name will remain during this transition.
2. By October 1, 2010 all Card.ly users will be automatically supplied with a BusinessCard2. In most cases, your URL name will be found at http://name.businesscard2.com.
3. Your Card.ly login credentials and password will remain the same during the transition.
4. Your BusinessCard2 user name will be your email address. For security purposes you will need to create a new password.
5. The integration of card.ly to BusinessCard2 will conclude November, 2010.

Frequently asked questions:
Q: Why are Card.ly and BusinessCard2 joining forces?
A: Both services have a vision for a business card for the internet.  Bringing Card.ly and BusinessCard2 will make for a stronger offering.

Q: Will my information be safe and secure?
A: Yes. We are committed to protecting your information.

Q: How do you plan to communicate changes to my account?
A: Before changes are made, we will notify you by email.

What you can expect:
During this transition period, your Card.ly account will be unaffected.  As of November 2010 your Card.ly account will become a BusinessCard2.  Not all design elements of Card.ly will be immediately available in BusinessCard2, but we are soliciting your ideas and suggestion for popular features you’d like to also see available in BusinessCard2.

BusinessCard2 advantages:

• Improved search engine optimization and directory services
• Ability to share your business card on select websites and social media
• Upload and store more than 60 file types
• Fully YouTube-enabled
• Available in both HTML and Flash
• Works on iPhone and iPad browsers
• And much, much more!

We value your ideas and feedback.  Please submit questions and ideas to us at http://businesscard2.com/feedback.

Thank you,
The BusinessCard2 Team

PRESS RELEASE:

Workface buys card.ly

MINNEAPOLIS (September 1, 2010) –Workface Inc. completed its purchase of card.ly from Massachusetts based Harkness labs. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.  The acquisition will help Minneapolis-based Workface bring its technology to a larger user base.

Card.ly was launched in 2009 by serial entrepreneur Dan Blake, who also created the wildly popular video chat service, Tinychat. “Card.ly is a great service and it has tens of thousands of incredible users,” said Blake.  “With the success of Tinychat we haven’t put more work into card.ly, but I thought it was important to find a good home for the service because I’m fully behind the need for an Internet business card.”

In 2007 Workface released BusinessCard2^®, a rich interactive business card for the Internet. The company has been operating BusinessCard2 as an ongoing concern ever since. “Even in this challenging economy, we have been blessed to find opportunity and growth with BusinessCard2,” said Larson.  “Our mission is to digitally interface business people with customers in a way that preserves the human condition and card.ly allows us to further that mission.”

At this time card.ly users will be unaffected, but Workface plans to integrate card.ly into BusinessCard2 in the months to come.  “We’re very excited to bring these two services and visionary users together into a single, larger offering,” said Larson. “The result will be the leading network of interactive, web-enabled business cards on the Internet today.”

###

About Workface Inc.
Workface Inc. was founded in 2006 with the vision of humanizing the Internet and powering localized and relevant 1:1 real-time engagement.  The company’s Workface^® platform is customer engagement software that enables businesses to empower their sales and service force to digitally engage directly with customers on their corporate and third-party websites, search engines and mobile, in real-time.  More information: http://workfaceinc.com.

About BusinessCard2
BusinessCard2 is a self-marketing tool designed to empower business people to create, promote, and broadcast their unique persona throughout the Internet.  It is an open business tool that features improved identity-level search engine optimization, the ability to share business cards on select websites and social media, uploading of more than forty different file types, and engagement through messaging and live chat.  More information: http://card2.com.

The Venture Capital East 50

Business Services

Woody Benson
General Partner, Prism VentureWorks
www.prismventure.com
Sector Focus: Consulting
Notable Investments: M:Metrics, Maven Networks, LogMeIn

Andy Goldfarb
Co-Founder and Executive Managing Director, Globespan Capital Partners
www.globespancapital.com
Sector Focus: Networking
Notable Investments: Covergence, m-Qube, VirtusaGlobespan

Patrick Hackett
Managing Director, Warburg Pincus
www.warburgpincus.com
Sector Focus: Technology, media, telecommunications
Notable Investments: Bridgeport Education, Yodlee

Adarah Sarma
Managing Director, Warburg Pincus
www.warburgpincus.com
Sector Focus: Technology, media, telecommunications
Notable Investments: Bridgeport Education

Infrastructure

Sean Dalton
General Partner, Highland Capital Partners
www.hcp.com
Sector Focus: IT
Notable Investments: Covergence, Casero, Virtual Iron Software, Starent Networks, PA Semi, Optasite Communications, CCTV

Michael DiPiano
General Partner, NewSpring Capital
www.newspringcapital.com
Sector Focus: IT
Notable Investments: I-pipeline, Cybershift

Rick Ganong
Partner, Tudor Ventures
www.tudorventures.com
Sector Focus: IT, communication, media
Notable Investments: Transmeta, Digital Island, Switch and Data

Patrick Kerins
General Partner, NEA
www.nea.com
Sector Focus: IT, enterprise, consumer technology
Notable Investments: Millennial Media, TidalTV, ChannelAdvisor

Marc Sokol
General Partner, JK&B Capital
www.jkbcapital.com
Sector Focus: Networking
Notable Investments: AlterPoint, CITTIO, CounterStorm

Scott Ungerer
Managing Director, EnerTech Capital
www.enertechcapital.com
Sector Focus: Semiconductors
Notable Investments: Intellon, Comverge, Circadiant Systems, Enerwise Global Technologies, Cablematrix, Fuelquest, Catch the Wind, Catalytic Solutions, Clean Air Power

Internet

Adam Dell
Managing General Partner, Impact Venture Partners
www.impactvp.com
Sector Focus: IT
Notable Investments: Open Table, Buzzsaw, HotJobs, Connectify

Ross Goldstein
Co-Founder and Managing Director, DFJ Gotham
www.dfjgotham.com
Sector Focus: Internet
Notable Investments: Mimeo, ContextWeb, Searchandise, Drop.io, Medialets

Fredric W. Harman
Managing Partner, Oak Investment Partners
www.oakvc.com
Sector Focus: Internet, new media, enterprise software
Notable Investments: aQuantive, Captura. Qpass

Joshua Kopelman
Managing Partner, First Round Capital
www.firstround.com
Sector Focus: Internet
Notable Investments: Jingle Networks, Odeo, Eventful, del.idio.us, myYearbook, VideoEgg

Chris Lanning
Managing Director, General Atlantic
www.generalatlantic.com
Sector Focus: Internet
Notable Investments: Dice Holdings, WebLoyalty

John Martinson
Managing Partner, Edison Venture Fund
www.edisonventure.com
Sector Focus: Education
Notable Investments: Mathsoft Engineering & Education, Presidium

Alan Patricof
Founder and Managing Director, Greycroft
www.greycroftpartners.com
Sector Focus: Internet, digital media
Notable Investments: Pump Audio, ContentNext Media, Huffington Post, Takkle

Nina Saberi
Managing General Partner, Castile Ventures
www.castileventures.com
Sector Focus: eCommerce, security, networking
Notable Investments: GeoTrust, Brix Networks

Ian Sigalow
Partner, Greycroft
www.greycroftpartners.com
Sector Focus: Advertising technology, Internet, mobile services
Notable Investments: Buddy Media, Buzzd, Collective

W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Total Technology Ventures
www.ttvatlanta.com
Sector Focus: IT, eCommerce
Notable Investments: PayCycle, KnowledgeStorm, Silverpop Systems

Alan Spoon
General Partner, Polaris Venture Partners
www.polarisventures.com
Sector Focus: IT, digital media, eCommerce
Notable Investments: TechTarget, Cushcraft Corporation

Life Sciences and Biotechnology

Peter Barrettt
Partner, Atlas Venture
www.atlasventure.com
Sector Focus: Healthcare, pharmaceuticals
Notable Investments: Archemix, Helicos Biosciences, InfaCare Pharmaceuticals, Stromedix, Vitae Pharmaceuticals, Zafgen

Alan Crane
General Partner, Polaris Venture Partners
www.polarisventures.com
Sector Focus: Biotechnology
Notable Investments: Adnexus Therapeutics, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals

Kent Gossett
General Partner, SR One
www.srone.com
Sector Focus: Healthcare services
Notable Investments: Morphotek, Alere Medical

Michael Greeley
General Partner, Flybridge Capital Partners
www.flybridge.com
Sector Focus: Healthcare, medical technology investments
Notable Investments: Magen BioSciences, Protein Forest

Peter Grubstein
Founder and Managing Partner, NGEN
www.ngenpartners.com
Sector Focus: Greentech
Notable Investments: Renaissance Lighting, and Hycrete

Bob Higgins
Co-Founder and General Partner, Highland Capital Partners
www.hcp.com
Sector Focus: Biotechnology, software
Notable Investments: Helicos BioSciences, Conor Medsystems, WordWave

David Lincoln
Managing Partner, Element Partners
www.elementpartners.com
Sector Focus: Greentech
Notable Investments: Advent Solar, Capstone Turbine

Terry McGuire
Co-Founder and General Partner, Polaris Venture Partners
www.polarisventures.com
Sector Focus: Biotechnology and pharmaceutical
Notable Investments: Remon Medical Technologies, GlycoFi

Sherrill Neff
Founding Partner, Quaker BioVentures
www.quakerbio.com
Sector Focus: Pharmaceutical
Notable Investments: Amicus Therapeutics, Medmark, BioRexis Pharmaceutical

Rosemary L. Ripley
Managing Director, NGEN
www.ngenpartners.com
Sector Focus: Greentech
Notable Investments: Carbonetworks, Flipswap, MokaFive

Jon Sakoda
Partner, NEA
www.nea.com
Sector Focus: Greentech
Notable Investments: Opower, ScienceLogic, Suniva

Steven Weinstein
Managing Director, Novartis BioVenture Fund
www.venturefund.novartis.com
Sector Focus: Medical devices and instruments
Notable Investments: Ablation Frontiers, Visiogen

Software

Arjay Agarwal
Bain Venture Capital
www.baincapitalventures.com
Sector Focus: Mobile, Internet
Notable Investments: Skyhook Wireless, Thumbplay, m-Qube

David Barrett
General Partner, Polaris Venture Partners
www.polarisventures.com
Sector Focus: Software
Notable Investments: mValent, LogMeIn

Bill Helman
Partner, Greylock
www.greylock.com
Sector Focus: Enterprise
Notable Investments: Upromise, Outlooksoft, Hyperion Software

Jeff Horing
Managing Director, InSight Venture Partners
www.insightpartners.com
Sector Focus: Software, Internet
Notable Investments: SolarWinds, DataCore

Bill Kaiser
Partner, Greylock
www.greylock.com
Sector Focus: Consumer, enterprise
Notable Investments: Constant Contact, RedHat, WildTangent

Steven B. Klinksy
Founder, CEO, and Managing Director, New Mountain Partners
www.newmountaincapital.com
Sector Focus: Software
Notable Investments: Deltek

Charles R. Lax
Co-Founder and Managing General Partner, GrandBanks Capital
www.grandbankscapital.com
Sector Focus: Infrastructure, security, mobile media
Notable Investments: E*Trade, FireFly Networks, GeoCities

J. Benjamin Nye
Managing Director, Bain Venture Capital
www.baincapitalventures.com
Sector Focus: Software
Notable Investments: SolarWinds, Apparent Networks

Justin J. Perreault
General Partner, Commonwealth Capital Ventures
www.commonwealthvc.com
Sector Focus: IT software
Notable Investments: Ounce Labs, SoundByte Communications, NexGen

Dave Tabors
General Partner, Battery Ventures
www.battery.com
Sector Focus: Software
Notable Investments: BladeLogic, Vastera

Telecommunications

Edward T. Anderson
North Bridge Venture Partners
nbvp.northbridge.com
Sector Focus: Software
Notable Investments: Starent, Veveo

Tom Huseby
Venture Partner, Oak Investment Partners
www.oakvc.com
Sector Focus: Software and mobile
Notable Investments: SNAPin Software, Qpass

Morgan Jones
General Partner, Battery Ventures
www.battery.com
Sector Focus: Telecommunications equipment
Notable Investments: Optium, Qtera, Achronix

Andrew Marcuvitz
Co-Founder and Chairman, Alpond Capital (ZeeVee)
www.zeevee.com
Sector Focus: Telecommunications equipment
Notable Investments: Starent Networks

John Simon
Managing Director, General Catalyst Partners
www.generalcatalyst.com
Sector Focus: Mobile
Notable Investments: Hands-On Mobile, Maven Networks, m-Qube

Thomas A. Smith
Partner, Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds
www.mavf.com
Sector Focus: Networking and telecommunications
Notable Investments: sentitO Networks, Colubris Networks, NexTone Communications

Troy D. Templeton
Managing Partner, Trivest Funds
www.trivest.com
Sector Focus: Telecommunications equipment
Notable Investments: Directed Electronics

In short, good news for the future of web-based engagement between government and the public sector.

Minneapolis, MN – April 6, 2010 –

We’re pleased to announce today that we’ve been chosen by AlwaysOn as one of the “OnDemand Top 100” winners. Inclusion in the OnDemand 100 signifies leadership amongst our peers and game-changing approaches and technologies that are likely to disrupt existing markets and entrenched players. Workface was specially selected by the AlwaysOn editorial team and industry experts spanning the globe based on a set of five criteria: innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value, and media buzz.

Workface and the other OnDemand Top 100 companies will be honored at AlwaysOn’s OnDemand event on April 19, 2010, at Hewlett-Packard’s Worldwide Headquarters in Palo Alto, CA. This two-and-a-half-day executive event features CEO presentations and high-level debates on how the Internet is disrupting how companies—from small businesses to large enterprises—create, store, distribute, analyze, and take advantage of their mission-critical data.

“As the digital information created by businesses continues to explode at astronomical rates, the need to store, manage, analyze, and share this information is becoming extremely challenging,” said Tony Perkins, founder and editor of AlwaysOn. “We congratulate this year’s OnDemand 100 for providing the technology platforms and services needed to manage and leverage this new era of information complexity and overload.”

The OnDemand 100 winners were selected from among hundreds of other technology companies nominated by investors, bankers, journalists, and industry insiders.  The AlwaysOn editorial team conducted a rigorous three-month selection process to finalize the 2010 list.

“We believe business is not just about companies, products, and services, but meaningful connections between people,” said Lief Larson, cofounder of Workface. “In the new social business environment, professionals must manage their online reputation, their ‘personal brand.’  BusinessCard2 users can easily manage, distribute, and market their brand with a compact electronic business card that can include a bio, images, files, videos, slideshows, podcasts, links to their social media profiles, and more. The product lets users have complete control over their online identity, and to distribute it openly across the web.”

The full list of all the OnDemand Top 100 winners can be found on the AlwaysOn website at: http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/34759

About Workface Inc.
Workface is the developer of BusinessCard2, an online personal brand management, marketing, and social networking service that helps professionals network, exchange, and distribute content rich business cards online.  It lets them create, control, and leverage their unique professional online identity via a portable and interactive digital business card.  Anyone can create a free BusinessCard2 at http://BusinessCard2.com.

About AlwaysOn
AlwaysOn is the leading business media brand networking the Global Silicon Valley. AlwaysOn helped ignite the social media revolution in early 2003 when it launched the AlwaysOn network. In 2004, it became the first media brand to socially network its online readers and event attendees. AlwaysOn’s preeminent executive event series includes the Summit at Stanford, OnMedia, OnHollywood, Venture Summit Mid-Atlantic, OnDemand, Venture Summit Silicon Valley, Venture Summit East, GoingGreen Silicon Valley, GoingGreen East, and GoingGreen Europe. The AlwaysOn network and live event series continue to lead the industry by empowering its readers, event participants, sponsors, and advertisers like no other media brand.

The irony is that many (if not a majority) of the audience are Mac users and had their Mac Books Pros out while at the same time voicing discourse and displeasure on Apple’s dearth of Flash.  Here are some bullet points from the event:

• Apple is not just displacing Flash, but also the creative work and technology used by many of its own customers
• Apple has made this decision primarily due to a desire to own/control their products and platforms, despite opposing customer voices
• Apple says the iPad a better browsing experience, yet exactly zero websites with Flash can display a true website experience
• Apple is pushing for HTML5
• Apple is happy to make this issue a Flash vs. HTML5 fight
• There was a consensus from the audience that is NOT the fight, but is a Flash AND HTLM5 fight
• Steve Jobs is conceited

If the event was a barometer, there are a lot of pissed off technologists who are second-guessing Apple.  These are the same technologists (and dare I say fanboys?) who contributed to Apple’s tremendous success over the last four years.  All of the arguments that Apple made for not having Flash on iPhone have gone away with the advent of iPad, and yet Flash is missing.

A recent sentiment survey published by TechCrunch shows that the #2 reason people are unhappy with the iPad is that it’s missing Flash.  Yet, other than preserving control in the marketplace, there is now reason (from a hardware perspective) that Flash shouldn’t be on the iPad.

Results this morning show that Apple sold 200k to 300k iPad’s since it’s release.  Those are some brisk sales, but I think it’s questionable whether Apple will be able to duplicate and sustain the sales success of iPhone.  Once the early adopters buy onto iPad, all that might be left are those who carry an expectation on a tablet device they’ll get the same experience they get on the web (for example the HP Slate).

This device is not a paradigm shift.  It is not rocket science.  It is merely a convergence of screens.  The fact that it is so limited — Flash has over 97% penetration on the web — I think it is inevitable that it puts a dent in iPad’s long-term prospects.  For a competitor to differentiate from the iPad, all they need to do is enable Flash.

I had the opportunity to meet Aneesh Chopra, who is the Chief Technology Officer and Associate Director for Technology in the White House Office of Science & Technology Policty.  Besides having one of the longest job titles in the world, Aneesh also has the distinction of being the first nation CTO in the storied history of the United States.  During my meeting I found Aneesh to be energetic, passionate, and a visionary.

What Aneesh taught me is that the government understands the challenges of how the government operated from behind a firewall in the recent past.  He and the administration saw an “opportunity” to affect positive change by working with the public sector on sharable technology.  This initiative is part of a more grandiose government compact rooted in four core principles: 1) Prioritization, 2) Transparency, 3) Engagement, 4) Rapid Results.

The terms “transparency” and “engagement” are what BusinessCard2 is all about, and for that reason I set about to offer up our internet business card technology to government.  Within days of meeting Aneesh I submitted a proposal to the http://www.Partner4Solutions.gov website that he told me about.  I put the wheels in motion with the GSA to become a government contractor, I reached out to the government Web Content Managers Forum, and even started contacting local governments.

Now here’s my disappointment.  I know fully well that government is a big ship, and big ships turn slowly.  However, Aneesh Chopra really hyped the administrations intentions to “deliver results in 90 days”.  I followed all the protocol and even ventured beyond Aneesh’s instructions, and yet I feel I’m no closer to my mission than when I began.  To top matters off the very group who can affect change, the Web Content Managers Forum, denied my request to join the group on the grounds that I’m not a government entity.  My experience made me feel like government is like the old boys club and the only way to get in is to be in.

I would not have thought blogging about this a worthwhile endeavor until I read THIS POST today.

Erik Sass, writing The Social Graph department at Media Post, opened his article up with the following:

“Nothing tends to elicit yawns like the words “municipal government,” but on the other hand, as the most local level of inept faceless bureaucracy we deal with in our day-to-day lives, it’s infuriatingly important.”

Well put Mr. Sass, well put.

See, the people who work in government are citizens and taxpayers just like us.  However, they should not be subject to any level of anonymity above and beyond what the rest of us are.  Government is in the business of public service, so I find it maddening (and frankly ironic) that they continue to hide behind a cloak that taxpayers bought them.   Although talking about Transparency and Engagement are a step in the right direction, talk without action is like words in a vacuum: meaningless.

For the sake of disclosure, it is in my best interest to see government adopt BusinessCard2.  However, I also want this to happen so I can find and know the people who work for me.  As a taxpayer and citizen I don’t feel it’s asking too much to be able to find my State Senator or my City Mayor by running a search on the web.  I’m NOT talking about the Office of a Senator or Office of City Mayor, I’m talking about the actual Senator and actual Mayor.   All I’m asking for is a simple tool of transparency to engage my government.

There are now a number of government employees and politicians who are using BusinessCard2.  We’re proud that they’ve made the personal decision to make themselves discoverable at the individual level.  But that’s not enough.  BusinessCard2 is simply the best tool for publicly exposing the people behind government and I hope to encourage more than just irregular adoption, but rather a groundswell.  To that end I’ve been participating at http://forums.e-democracy.org and I encourage you, If you’re lucky enough to FIND a person in government, to ask them to create a BusinessCard2.

I end with a quote that I feel it fitting of this topic:

“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.”   – Aristotle

Link: BusinessCard2 Solutions for Government

February 15, 2010 – Minneapolis, MN, USA – BusinessCard2™, a web-based personal brand management, marketing, and social networking service, has been named the winner of the Social Business Innovation Awards.  The competition was established to recognize great work in open/social business and organizational design, innovation, transformation, and efficiency using social technologies.

“We have the best set of tools in history for people to find each other and act together to create and improve on the things that matter to them,” said David Cushman, founder of the Social Business Innovation Awards.  “I hope you will join with me to celebrate the best of them — and through this find a path to the communities-of-purpose-driven future of the organization.”

Social business is defined as businesses organized around social networks and the use of social technologies to support them.  The context for business has changed dramatically in recent years – a shifting global economic climate, accelerating need for sustainable operations, and a political and societal demand for increased openness and transparency in business.  The social business is an organization designed consciously around sociality and social tools, as a response to a changed world and the emergence of the social web.

“One of our core beliefs is that business is not just about companies, products, and services, but about meaningful connections between people,” said Lief Larson, co-creator of BusinessCard2.  “In the new social business environment, where one doesn’t get a second chance to make a first impression, it is incumbent upon professionals to manage their online reputation, their “personal brand.” BusinessCard2 users can easily manage, distribute, and market their personal brand by creating a compact electronic business card that can include a bio, images, files, videos, slideshows, podcasts, links to their social media sites, and more. The product allows users to have complete control over their online identity, and to distribute it openly across the web.”

“We are very honored and humbled to win the Social Business Innovation Awards,” said Larson.  “Our technology road map is focused on using the social infrastructure to build visibility within specific markets and help give our users the tools to form new connections. To have our efforts recognized is just an unbelievably great feeling, which we share with the tens of thousands of people who use BusinessCard2 and have contributed to our personal branding and personal marketing platform.”

About the Social Business Innovation Awards
The awards were established to recognize great work in open/social business and organizational design, innovation, transformation, and efficiency using social technologies.  You can view past winners and nominate those using social business by visiting: .

About BusinessCard2
BusinessCard2 is an online personal brand management, marketing, and social networking service that helps professionals network, exchange, and distribute content rich business cards online.  It helps professionals create, control, and leverage their unique professional online identity via a portable and interactive digital business card.  Anyone can create a free BusinessCard2 at http://BusinessCard2.com.

Whether you’re a developer, purveyor or consumer of web technology, there is one thing worth keeping in mind: right now participation in the social web dictates a form of multiple personality disorder.  Seriously, at my LinkedIn profile I’m the president of a company and have thoroughly documented my moderately successful background.  I have recommendations from commercial partners who have used words like “technical” “practical” and “dedication” to describe their prior working relationships with me.  I guess that makes me bonafide, right!?!

Now Facebook is an entirely different persona.  There I’m the hunting, fishing, outdoorsy guy who totally fits the lifestyle synonymous with the flyover country of Minnesota.  Yes I shoot and gut deer, yes I have chopped down a tree, and yes I have sat all day over a 10” hole on a frozen lake pulling out perch and drinking PBR.  Am I really some extremophile between technologist and entrepreneur by day and Jeremiah Johnson wannabe by weekend?

The dichotomy of my professional and personal selves online was nothing short of incredible.  So much so, that for years I was worried that my clique on one side might somehow come in contact with the other.  Then what would happen?  Would I lose my position in the business world because of the one time I pissed out my camping fire?  Would I risk favor with my woodsy clan because I’d gone to a business meeting in a suit and tie the prior day and talked about my concerns over what the internal rate of return would be?

Last year I decided to confront my identity crisis.  My self-imposed intervention was kicked-off with a slow and strategic merging of both of my identities: 1) I began using the same headshot of myself no matter what web sites I’m on, 2)  I started telling my business stories to my rural cronies and my outdoor tales to my urban colleagues, 3) I vowed to be a singular character who carries both parts of my life with me wherever I go, 4) I asked business acquaintances to go fishing with me, and my fellow redneck cohort to connect with me on LinkedIn.

The result, to my surprise, is that I’ve become more real, more human.  My online interactions with people now occur in a natural and linear fashion.  My life stream has blurred when moving from the authentic to the digital world. I feel much more comfortable in my digital skin.

What is being human online like for you?