Was having a chat with a really intelligent friend, Wan Lyn today. She’s apparently been a regular reader of my blog for a while, but I never knew until I met her at the second Social Media Breakfast in Singapore a couple of weeks ago. Talking to her is really interesting because she’s got some great thoughts (which will inspire some other posts for sure).

As a side point, I just want to say that this is the reason why I blog. Above anything else, the pleasure of connecting with new people and making new friends.

But what I want to point out is this. She knew a lot about me because of my blog. When we first talked, she already had judgments about what I was like as a person – and most of it is accurate, in my opinion.

That shows her insightfulness, but more importantly, it shows the power of your online presence. Daryl Tay recently asked a question about how important it is to manage your online identity. And here’s my answer: yes, it is definitely very important. Your online identity reveals a lot about you. People can easily judge and conclude what you are like through your online identity.

In real life, whatever you do and say play a huge part in people’s opinions about you.

Online, that is amplified, especially because the people who are reading it may not yet know you personally.

The chat with Wan Lyn has confirmed the importance of managing your online identity, in my mind at least. Things that I didn’t even put much thought into went some way into forming her opinion about me.

Every little thing on your blog or your online identity – your blog design, what you put on your blog, your style of writing, everything – it all affects what people think of you. And personally, I think it’s really important.

What is your online identity (your blog, Twitter, etc) saying about you?