ARTICULATED

My Facebook presence is intentionally more open than closed. I like it that way. I believe the power of the social web is the sum total of countless individual choices to be transparent.

But over the weekend, someone who I haven’t spoken to in 20+ years wrote something dreadfully inappropriate on my Wall. The bizarre, erratic comment spent seven minutes in view of the world before I caught it, deleted it, and blocked the perpetrator.  In that short time, on a Saturday night, the comment may have gone unnoticed.  That would be a lucky break — it would have been offensive to just about anyone.

I’m trying to figure out what, if anything, I should do to inoculate against such an incident in the future. I don’t really want to lock down my Facebook Wall. I can’t really imagine such a thing happening once, much less twice. But if it did –- and if I didn’t catch it — it could be really unfortunate.

I was one of the last people in my extended social circle to join Facebook. In the past, I had been active on Friendster and Connexion – I’ve appreciated social networking sites since their emergence. But I was nervous that it would be impossible to participate on Facebook without encountering all manner of work-related contacts in addition to the good friends and family I sought to stay connected to.

I feared that candidly revealing my personal life on Facebook might have a negative consequence for Kinkennon Communications. Will prospective clients choose not to hire my shop if they learn that I live comfortably as an openly gay man? Could my candor inadvertently create political problems for any of my high-profile clients? Am I being irresponsible to my business by being anything other than circumspect about my personal life?

But the fact is, the horse had left the gate long ago, and I knew it. Any Google search on “Shane Kinkennon” reveals that I am a Gay Games silver medalist, the founder of the Denver Gay & Lesbian Flag Football League, and a donor to the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. And I’ve been out of the closet to most of my colleagues at every job I’ve held since 1993. I’m just “out” generally. What exactly did I think remained under wraps?

So I took a deep breath, set aside my concerns, and dove in. Now I’m connected to my family and old friends, and in constant contact with new ones. And I’m paying close attention to the way organizations and entities are attempting to “use” Facebook, and helping organizations myself, which is providing me increasing authority on the topic.

Thus far, no downside for Kinkennon Communications. Quite the contrary, Facebook was recently the source of a good new project. A former colleague who sees my regular Facebook updates thought of me when a project crossed her desk. (Thanks, Jenna.) The project has to do with public education for gay and lesbian people. Had I not made the decision to join Facebook — and were I not being entirely myself while on Facebook — that connection probably would not have been made. Hmm.