Social Networking for a Shy Person

Okay, I admit it. I have joined Facebook. I did it at my professor's recommendation. I really fought the idea, but since I was planning to join My Space to watch over my teenage daughter, my arguments against following the crowd seemed pretty thin. Then I joined Linked In so I can network for a job in the near future. Trouble is, I'm having problems presenting myself on that forum. Facebook is pretty easy, I can reveal that I'm married, mom of two teenagers and no stranger to domesticity. However, on Linked In, I really don't want to do that.

I almost feel like the main character in "Three Faces of Eve." My Facebook personality is more closely representative of me, the My Space personality is the guardian (think a cross breed of German Shepard and Rottweiler) of a 14-year-old girl, and the Linked In personality is the professional career woman. Now, what do you want to bet that someone from my past will be able to put all these three together and tell the world what a psycho I am! Actually, most of my high school classmates know that, but why confirm it?

Now, basically, I'm a rather shy person. I don't like to reveal much about myself because of past bad experiences when my "secrets" became known. Also, I don't think I'm a very exciting person. Maybe it's a self-esteem thing. I'll have to work on that. Facebook gives the writer an opportunity to be "out there" with some element of safety. Or so it would seem. When I searched for "friends" from my high school days, I found a few. None of them I would want to talk to today much less over the last 30 years since graduating. So, now I'm a little nervous. Suppose they find me? Afterall, I found them. But, I didn't contact them. So, maybe they won't contact me. Feel better? Don't know yet.