An area that I have historically struggled with is understanding how I should engage and present myself on the internet. On one side, I've seen tremendous value by sharing my thoughts on a public platform (e.g. Twitter). On the flip side, I've also seen it become a huge productivity suck (e.g. Instagram). 

As I went down the path of removing myself from certain social media platforms, I started to see the pressure of 'internet participation' and how that translated to status on these different platforms. For example, are you actually moving forward in your career if you're not actively updating your LinkedIn profile? I've met plenty of people who are doing some incredible things even though they aren't active on LinkedIn. Similarly, a lot of people I know have a habit of capturing the moment so that it can be shared on Instagram without taking the time to enjoy the moment itself. 

This isn’t a condemnation of those who choose to participate on social media. However, I want to make it clear that internet participation is indeed a choice. No one should feel pressured to post on the internet because of the social group they happen to identify themselves with. 

Over the past few months, I have started to navigate a comfortable balance between engaging on public and private channels. This transition has allowed me to take advantage of new and unique opportunities. 

The Commercialization of Social Networks

From 2000-2010, we lived during an era where billions of people had 'IPO-ed.' People were posting their thoughts and sharing their lives with the public even though they didn't have the appropriate PR training that public figures (in the past) had received. As commercial and political entities began to harness the power of social media in the past decade, we saw the gradual decline of the sanctity of social media platforms. If you need evidence, just take a look at your Facebook timeline over the past ten years.

Moreover, the time it takes for a new social network to be infiltrated by political and commercial forces has reduced as organizations see the value of building a strong social presence. The commercialization of relatively new platforms such as Tik Tok exemplify this. 

The Dark Forest

As public environments on the internet become commercialized, we've seen people switch to the 'dark forest.' This consists of slack channels, private Instagrams, invite-only message boards, text groups, Snapchat, WeChat, Whatsapp groups and on and on. 

This phenomenon has led to people retreating back to our respective social circles (family, school, coworkers) except now we've built a digital fortress to fortify our thoughts and opinions. 

These bubbles are akin to social mobs. As described by Eugene Wei’s latest post, "The closer the social mob is to enforcing the values you believe in, the more just it feels. The more divergent the values of the mob, the more you feel attacked by an army of trolls. I’m not opposed to new forms of social capital regulation enabled by the internet, but social mob behavior can be a mass of unthinking, blind, rage. Like a real-life mob, just bigger, and faster moving. That’s a frightening phenomenon." 

The idea of being in a social group that looks, thinks and feels ‘just right’ is alluring. However, it can be incredibly dangerous. This is because our view of the world will be limited to the collective information that our group encounters - which is increasingly personalized and therefore limited. Unless you aim to diversify your audience, participate in different groups and balance your information diet, your view of the world will be incomplete. The most efficient way to do this is to simply engage with public communities on the internet. 

Showing Up On The Internet 

There is no right way when it comes to showing up on the internet and engaging in public and private communities. However, it is important to go in with an intention that is self-determined. To help demonstrate my point, I'll use my own 'internet evolution' as an example. 

For a long time, I faced a conundrum where the people around me were largely interested in being active on platforms (e.g. Instagram/Snapchat) that I found to be a waste of time. Despite feeling this way, I felt the pressure to participate on these platforms to remain present with the people I surrounded myself with.

On the flip side, I enjoyed learning about how successful startups evolved from product-market fit to the massive juggernauts that they are today. I'd lurk in awe of people on Twitter who engaged with some of the biggest people in the tech industry despite having no recognized credential (e.g. worked in VC, was a prior founder or had completed an ivy-league MBA). They simply had done their research and were courageous enough to engage in public conversations. 

I slowly started to pay attention to individual stories and how they were able to grow to the point where they could engage in conversations with some of the smartest minds in the tech space. With that in mind, I took it upon myself to create content based on what I was learning. This wasn't a smooth process as I was reluctant to share my content within my social circles.

This is where the Write of Passage community proved to be critical - by surrounding myself with other writers who were making a similar transition I was able to launch and get into the habit of creating a weekly newsletter and blog. 

Over the past three months, the newsletter and blog has led to: 

• Countless conversations on topics that I've written about; leading to deeper relationships
• Creation of the Write of Passage Fellowship with David Perell 
• Opportunity to join Knowledgehook as their Head of Growth
• Other interesting projects/partnerships with people in my network 

This is not to say that the newsletter and blog directly led to all of this but I do think that it has unlocked a number of nascent opportunities in my network. 

Conclusion 

Everyone will have their own way of showing up on the internet. However, I am confident that an extreme approach where you go completely public or retreat into the dark forest can be sub-optimal. It is important to engage in public and private channels that allow you to grow as an individual - even if it isn't the comfortable choice for you.