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	Phil's Blogservations Thursday, August 04, 2005 Posted by philgomes 6:55 PM Personal, Professional, Perso-Professional Personal, Professional, Perso-Professional Amy Gahran, hostess of the "Contentious" blog, reached a bit of an impasse when it came to integrating her personal and professional lives on the same blog. She now has two: The original Contentious and, now, the more personally focused "Mass Of Contradictions." Ms. Gahran writes: I’m surprised how controversial it was when I announced my intention to briefly note some personal interests and aspects of my life on their own page on my business site (which I’m in the process of overhauling). Some of the people who advised against this move I respect greatly – others frankly appear ignorant, fearful, or mean-spirited. Also says: As an independent professional, I need to assess such risks carefully. And: I don’t begrudge other people their comfort zones. But I do see myself, my work, and my interests as an integrated whole. I've run into similar criticisms of my own blog, which I've termed "perso-professional" for a good, obvious reason. Since starting this blog in 2001, I've heard incredibly specious (and demonstrably wrong) arguments that current, potential, and wished-for clients might not want to be represented by a someone who is a metal fan, quotes obscure goth bands, posts about his friends, or compares media relations strategies to dating Salma Hayek. (And boy did I ever catch a mountain of stercoraceous goo for that last one!) In my case, the facts are these: Honestly, I'd rather be confident that people know exactly who they're dealing with. To-date, absolutely no one has told me that they chose not to hire me or work with any agency I belonged to because of something on this blog. Actually, the opposite has been more likely to occur. My career speaks for itself, really. People who want to assess me professionally have ample opportunity to do so on this site and through Google. The subject of what I like to do in my off-hours is going to come up anyway, so I've chosen to front-load that inevitability. Granted, my lifestyle doesn't necessarily have any truly controversial elements, whereas Ms. Gahran's blog openly and courageously reveals the fact that she's polyamorous. This introduces a host of complications that, well, I couldn't really begin to address. I believe that a while second, personal blog accomplishes a symbolic division between her personal and professional lives, it's not a terribly practical one. Sure, the personal stuff on the professional blog will get buried over time under months and years worth of posts, but the connection is always going to be there. If a real personal/professional separation ever was the goal, the move is basically fourth-down-and-inches. A symbolic move, however, seems to be enough for now. Here's some final insight from Ms. Gahran: On the bright side, I do think having a personal blog...offers a way for me to preserve my personal coherence. Agreed. For my part, I feel that this blog has helped me immensely in my personal and professional lives. As to the former, it's a kind of release. My PR career means that there's plenty about my professional life on the web, and this blog helps to achieve some kind of perceptual balance. Also: When people only see final decisions or finished products, they may marvel and applaud – but they probably won’t learn very much. Well... To paraphrase Holmes, "A mind stretched by a new idea never returns to its original dimension." Update: Amy responds and offers additional insight and context. | HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil's demented imagination. Hell, to be perfectly honest, even Phil disagrees with what he thinks sometimes. This site has virtually no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Clicking on a link doesn't automatically send a 1/2-cent donation to UNICEF. You can't buy, sell, auction, swap, find a date, win friends, influence people, cross the chasm, or decode the human genome using this site. You won't get free email. You won't win a free video game console. This site will not end world hunger, foster peace in the Middle East, help you smell better, teach you how to swing dance, or move the global economy from petroleum to hydrogen fuels. You'll learn a lot about this site's master, though, which amounts to a haphazard collection of strange and useless facts that pretty much won't help you at all.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This is the blog of Phil Gomes, SVP with Edelman Digital and senior advisor to the Society for New Communications Research. This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. Phil currently resides in Chicago, IL. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes.com View my page on PROpenMic SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! IM SKYPE WISH LIST PITCH POLICY MY PHOTOS www.flickr.com Photostream RSS Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz COMMENT AND TRACKBACK POLICY Comments and trackbacks are unmoderated, though I will delete the patently offensive ones. Any comments and trackbacks are the opinions of the individual writer of those comments and trackbacks, and not those of Phil Gomes, his employer, its clients, or its business partners. 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