I read a post about dos and don'ts for your social media presence. Among those were the authenticity of your identity. I agree with most of them. My question is, how important is it to use a "real" name? I completely understand how any type of misrepresentation is a bad thing.
When you say you're a pro, expert, or guru when you're not, credibility is shot.
If you display a picture of someone tall, dark, and handsome but you're short (vertically challenged), overweight, and pale, people will lose interest. Not to say you need to be an underwear model to get people's attention. Absolutely not! However, giving the impression you're something you're not is a bad practice.
That being said, what about a name? Does your credibility diminish if you disguise your name? Actors have had stage names for decades. Authors have had pen names for centuries. That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet...
I have an peculiar name that some have difficulty pronouncing, and is nearly impossible to distinguish aloud, especially over the phone.
Gess is pronounced Jess. When people read it, they will say, Gus, Guess, even Goose! Trust me, when a coach pronounces your name wrong at a high school pep rally, you better believe that mispronunciation will stick with you for a long time!
Homsany, for some reason, sounds to people like Thompson.
Nevertheless, I would proudly use it everywhere and anywhere. As I got older, I occasionally would spell Gess with a J, so the reader would pronounce it right. If I only had responsibility to myself, there would be no issue. But that's not the case. I have a family to think about now.
It is careless and naive to think we live in a perfect world. Now that there's one way social media, where anyone can follow anyone, I felt the need to protect, somewhat, those closest to me. I obviously have not gone to great lengths covering my tracks. A small amount of digging can reveal all. Still, it gives me a small measure of security.
Is that wrong? Am I being a fraud or unauthentic? Should my influence levels take a hit?
I think not.
Personally, I've gone the full name route and can't say that it's been particularly helpful or hurtful. Sadly, in this age of technology and information, things like name, age, location, occupation, and to some extent even income have become general knowledge easily accessible via the internet. So I'm not sure that closely guarding these things is going to do a lot for you. On the flip side, I think pen names are practical and even helpful in the case (perhaps such as your's) that a given name poses problems. I think it does come down to authenticity, people want to be able to relate to what they are reading, if you can accomplish that, what you call yourself doesn't hold as much weight.
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