Fun Friday: Hello! My Name Is @xStephenChapman!
Update: In a completely random fit of randomness (see: coincidence), a colleague of mine created a post much like this one only a few hours before I posted this one. As such, here is a link to his post which you may also find interesting (mine is more humorous where his puts a much more intellectually-stimulating spin on the idea of an online identity). That is all. And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming...
Today is Friday. In celebration of that, I thought I would start a "Fun Friday" segment where I post something on the light-hearted/fun/comical side. For all I know, this will be a colossal failure, but who doesn't like to enjoy a bit of fun every now and again -- especially on Friday!? So, without further adieu, "Fun Friday" begins!
If you have ever attended an Internet, Search, Social Media, etc. conference, then you are probably familiar with this new phenomenon I experienced a couple of weeks ago when I gave a presentation at BarCampCLT where I discussed Google and their cache. This post isn't about that presentation, though. What this post is about is how I had to start introducing myself to certain people who I happened to be quite familiar with. I would approach them and say, "hey there, I'm Stephen! ...Stephen Chapman?" Then, I would watch the wheels turn in their heads for a moment as they tried to figure out just who I was... then, the look of enlightenment as they excitedly replied to me, "oh, xStephenChapman on Twitter!"
Yes, yes... xStephenChapman on Twitter. hahaha.
Now, don't get me wrong here. I'm not implying that I consider myself some kind of superstar or that everyone should recognize me as soon as I walk into a room or when I say my name is "Stephen" or whatever else, because nothing could be further from the truth. I just thought it was comical that a few people I had spoken to on Twitter and via email a number of times prior had no idea who I was by my name until they put it together that I was maybe -- just maybe -- "xStephenChapman on Twitter" as opposed to any other Stephen Chapman they may possibly know. :)
So, with that in mind, I literally introduced myself to at least two people as "xStephenChapman" and they knew right off the bat who I was. Good comedy! Honestly, it's a testament to how much social media has shifted our online pseudonyms to being synonymous with our actual names! Because of that, I've decided that from here on out, I'm going to start donning the following "hello my name is" sticker to any and all conferences I attend:
The first conference I will be attending with which to possibly try out this new naming convention of mine is PubCon Las Vegas 2010. I think that will work out quite well, what about you? I'll be sure to have someone take a picture if we're all outfitted with these stickers. Now, the question I have is if I'm the only one noticing this as a trend.
How many of you out there have had to introduce yourselves by your Twitter alias even though you thought it would be sufficient to use your actual name? I'd love to hear some other stories like this if any of you out there have them!