Mark Cuban Right About Digital Persona

Mark Cuban gets it.

The visionary Internet entrepreneur and rebel NBA team owner really hit the nail on the head in his recent blog posting as he waxed philosophical about digital personas.

To strangers in the digital world, we are what our search results return. Even friends and family can learn things about us using Google. For example, my written persona that is presented online is far different than my offline self.

What do we know about our favorite Drunken Pirate? From recent media reports, all that we seemingly know is that Stacy Snyder likes to party on Halloween and has been unfairly punished by a hyper-sensitive university for having a good time.

Is this really who she is? I doubt it. I'm sure that the real Stacy Snyder is far different than the persona presented in recent online postings and media stories.

I've often wondered about the rhetorical persona that has been created for me in our digital world. Will it someday cost me a job? I certainly hope not. Could it help me land a job? That would be great!

What I do know is that my digital persona is not really who I am. Like the first impression I make, my digital persona is merely a snapshot of myself that may, or may not fully represent my true self.

As Drunken Pirate has recently learned, we should carefully cultivate our online persona as carefully as we develop our offline persona. Your digital persona can have a far greater impact on your offline persona than you may realize.

Just ask Stacy Snyder.