I have a very large digital footprint (my non-digital footprint is a size 11). There are things that if someone really wanted to find out information about me, it wouldn’t be that hard. If you type “Bob Borson” into Google, you’ll get over 30,000 returns – that’s a lot for someone who barely goes out at night and worries whether or not anyone would come to his funeral should he pass unexpectedly.
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The main reason there are so many returns is because I have written a lot of posts here on this site as well as a handful on other sites. I was thinking about this because two things happened last week that got me thinking how the Internet is making it that much easier to leave behind those footprints and about what exactly we are all leaving behind.
So last week I was talking to a friend and I told a story (as I am prone to do) about an old childhood friend and neighbor of mine that I haven’t seen in 25 years. I got to wondering what he was up to these days so I went to the Internet and typed in his name …
… nothing.
Not one single return on this guy. How does that happen these days?
Incredible.
Did he die? Was he abducted by aliens? Did he become a mountain man? … Okay, if you knew the guy I was talking about that last one could have actually happened … but I doubt it. If you type in my name, not only do all these search returns show up from my site, but I show up in design interviews, meeting minutes from presentations before various city council and planning and zoning boards, me at the National AIA conference, etc. Of course, there’s also Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, my office’s website – the list can go on for a while but I think you get my point. Maybe it’s really not so amazing that I show in up 30,000 returns but that my friend shows up in ZERO returns. That has to take some skill and effort – it’s an amazing accomplishment.
On the same day, the other thing that got me thinking was after reading an “About Me” page on a website I was visiting. It was the website of a designer who I know has an office of one, yet their “About Me” page was written in the third person. I don’t know why that bothered me as much as it did. I read it and kept thinking the entire time “I know you are the one who wrote this, I know it’s you!” … hence the title of this post was born. If you read my About Me page, I wrote it as if I was talking to the reader – in fact, my opening sentence is “My name is Bob Borson and I am a licensed architect in Texas.”
Talking to people is an inherently personal thing – at least it is for me. Whenever I am writing, giving a presentation – whatever – I always talk in the first person. While that might make me sound a bit narcissistic, it puts some sort of personal perspective to whatever point I am trying to make – this is after all “me” talking and I think this platform requires a 1st person narrative to encourage participation from others. For the record, I should say that I make it a point to say “we” and “us” whenever talking to a client about their project. It’s never “I thought this was the best way to…”, it’s always “we thought this was the best way to…”. [’cause I’m a team player]
Is it a bad thing to have such a large digital footprint? Has my alien-abducted mountain man friend figured something out that I haven’t? [clearly he doesn’t know how to avoid alien abductions like me so I’m not sure we should listen to him anyways]. Part of the reason I write this blog is to introduce some transparency to what some architects do. Another reason I have continued to write it is I like the idea that I am leaving something behind. It would be presumptuous to think that I will be remembered for my architecture – strictly looking at the percentages, very few of us will. This blog allows me to talk about the sort of architecture that I practice and how I think it should be practiced.
I wrote a post back in March 2011 titled “What are you carrying” and towards the end I mentioned that I had some interest in leaving some evidence behind for my daughter, that would allow her to see that her Dad was more than just her Dad. Maybe I shouldn’t care but I do … so as a result, I am going to be myself and talk in the first person. You never know who might be reading or when they might be reading.
Cheers,
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Hello!
search Google Image ‘architect’,
visit site of ‘the first pic at Architect +Architect=??’ then
keep enjoying reading your posts and comments
I’m not an architect, just come out of school.
Awwwesome blog guys!
My name is Miew and I am a licensed medical technologist in Thailand.
Humm, guilty as guarded. When I wrote the welcome note for my firm (which is just me, in house) I used “we” a lot for a few reasons.
First, as one reader commented, it’s the RFQ. I build a team of consultants for my projects who then all produce documents under my firm’s banner. The firm is really a collection of specialist working together on the project..and I want to express that, or at least that’s what I’m thinking when writing about the firm. When I’m competing with larger firms, I don’t want to look too small or unqualified because “we’re” not. Second, I’m one today, but that can change fast if workflow demands it. Third, nothing gets out the door without my wife’s approval thus “we”, and last, I hate talking about myself..
All that said, you got me thinking, and I’ll reevaluate and no doubt rewrite the welcome note as you make a great point. Thanks for your great insights..
Oops, swap “guarded” for “charged”, an unfortunate word choice by my ipad.
I read this blog post first thing this morning and have been thinking about it all day. I’m primarily drawn to the battle between social media and privacy – I even stumbled on a dissertation on the topic from someone whose name returns very few Google results. Where do you draw the line?
I too have wanted to leave something behind for my grandkids, something they could discover on their own and think,”I didn’t know that about grandpa, wow!” So I’ve written about boats I’ve owned, voyages I’ve taken, some adventures only just now acknowledged and how it all started, in my new book, “Chasing Frank Lloyd Wright” It’s how I became an architect…everyone should write their story.
Wow, now I’m curious, yet also afraid, to google myself under images. I might not be pleased. I love how you are leaving a long trail for your daughter. I wish the internet had been around when I was a kid so I’d know more about my parents and myself as a kid. P.S. All your pictures are very handsome…well, most.
This is our first encounter with your blog and we are very pleased. So pleased, in fact, that we have all subscribed. Thank you from all of us!
Joking aside I do feel that the cultural laziness, inherent to language, is driving an anti-grammar for anti-grammar-sake, movement. I assume, in line with your thoughts, that digital etiquette is following suit. I own a small low-voltage integrator and occasionally compete with “we” and “all of us” that shows up to the job as a 1996 Toyota Camry, box of Cat-5, and a dream! I understand the placation to provide social proof, but shouldn’t integrity also apply. It can be professionally frustrating, but no more so than giving blood to the pre-qualification process.
In short, thank you for being an articulate voice of reason and mediation. I hope you are historically significant, weighed, measured, and found brilliant!
So do I!
I suppose it should be said (although I never say it) that personal integrity measures into all things on this site and from me personally. If someone has no problems presenting themselves as something their not, I’m not sure what can be done about it.
I blame RFQ.
Despite significant evidence to the contrary, offices are not corporeal, so it is technically wrong to give them a first person voice. (Or, perhaps, that’s the age of my education showing.)
Recently, there has been some good discussion on writing. Whether we ought make a distinction between writing to be read, versus writing that is to be ‘heard.’ So, there is measage in the medium as well as the meaning.
There was a recent TED talk on whether “texting” was “ruining” language skills. (Turns out college administrators have been lamenting the literacy of incoming students of late, as recently as 1843.) The gist of the talk is that we humans do speak in two different ways, both orally, and by oration.
Which left an odd thought in the back of my head. An absurdity of whether we could see a time where our web-sites have an “About Us” and a :Yo, 4-1-1″ link. Or if we’ll just include a mouse/gesture sensitive icon of either speaker or printed page.
As that last is really the nub of it–are our “About Me” diffeent when we speak than from when we write?
Great, great comment Mark. I try and tell people who ask me about the posts I “write” here that I am not a writer, I am a talker who types up what he wants to say. I try and follow certain establish language conventions but this is a casual format and I treat it as such.
Whenever people contact me about contributing to their blog or to a print article I have to give it considerable thought because I’ll write it differently than I would if it were on my own site.
I’m guilty as charged for participating in the third person biography. However, I think first or third person is appropriate depending on which tone you want to set with your clients, readers, etc. Third person sets a professional, objective tone that aligns with factual information such as dates, accomplishments and the like. Writing down accomplishments in first person (at least for me) feels too much like bragging. “I did this, I won that, I was recognized…”. I also prefer third person so I can easily cut and paste the bio for other organizations or publications where readers may not know me and first person feels too intimate. I leave the personal and intimate stories for my blog (where I do promote writing in first person). Even then, some articles may be more appropriate in third person if it is a sensitive subject or needs to convey a sense of authority or accuracy (i.e. just the facts, not my personal opinion). In the end, third person bios may seem funny to those who know us best, but to someone we’ve never met, its an easy introduction that makes sense. Cheers!
I would agree – third person works best when there is an omniscient delivery needed, my CV is in 3rd person even though I wrote it. I think I try to avoid 3rd person as much as possible on my site because it seems to me that there is something a little haughty about it.
Great post, Bob. Your (virtual) web footprint also expand your real footprint. I went out of my way to meet you in person as a result and I am sure I’m not the only one!
It has happened quite a few times – and it’s always been a great experience although most of the time I am thinking “why does anybody want to meet me?”
I’m glad we met John, hope Atlanta is treating you right!
Well, I guess that’s why I love reading your blog. There are so many times that your name comes up in conversatioin with coworkers, friends, the hubby, etc. It is usually either an anedote you’ve shared or a design idea. So, I’m glad you choose to speak in the first person!
Thanks! I thinks it’s pretty cool that ideas that get started where I’m at get developed and continued where you’re at – it’s what makes this social media thing so incredible.
But since I know you and know that you do a little SM activity yourself, at times I wonder if we are preaching to the choir a little bit?
Bob,
I’ve wondered the same thing. Can’t count the number of times at a conference in the hand-out, or in the moderators introduction, the speaker is written about like it was a review that a critic was writing…I know the speaker wrote this. Puzzling??
But I will say that, sometimes it is about me 🙂 , when speaking with a client, I’m not as purposeful about using the “we” instead of me. Maybe because our little firm is two guys and a secretary, but primarily because the client has hired me. Even if I was a project manager with a larger firm (fill in the blank with a more complicated title, if you like), the client is still looking to me for answers. So sometimes I think it’s OK to use the me, instead of we.
You?
2380 for Robert Swinburne – a bit freaky but a rare name is helpful.
I got in trouble for using I instead of we during my internship. And even more when clients started calling and immediately asking for me instead of my boss. I was the secret talent in the back room.
and look at you know – out of the back room and with your name on the door!
which happened long before I was licensed. and actually, I have a Kermit Klein poster on the door.
that might explain a few things
Our firm is a little larger (8 people) but I still endeavor to say “we” whenever making a presentation. I suppose I am sensitive to the fact that in my history, I have seen people take credit for work they didn’t really do and make themselves the hero while always relegating other members of the team to anonymity at worst, obscurity at best. Since I firmly believe that the best work comes from people having some sort of ownership in the process, they deserve some respect for actually having been part of that process.
That said, it’s different when it’s only two people.
True. When I am presenting discipline to our children I reference the punishment as coming from us (my wife and I) but when its time for ice cream, that was totally my idea.
hilarious – I roll that way at my house as well (but there are a lot of additional “don’t tell your mother…”