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(NOTE: This is part of a series of postings where I published the results of my new survey on people’s comfort zones regarding the overlap of professional and personal information online. More about this survey. Overview of numerical responses.)

SURVEY QUESTION 7: Would you ever disclose personal information on your business site or blog?

• 80 (45%) said: Maybe
• 60 (34%) said: Yes, I already do
• 25 (14%) said:Yes, I’d like to
• 11 (6%) said: Never

Of the 176 respondents, the vast majority claim to be definitely willing (or at least willing to consider) disclosing personal information in an online business/professional context. Many, in fact, have already done so.

Looking at the survey as a whole, it’s interesting that most respondents don’t generally disapprove when they encounter a surprising variety of personal (even controversial) information on business blogs – as long as the personal context doesn’t overpower the blog’s business content, and as long as it’s made relevant. The vast majority also claim to be definitely or conditionally willing to offer their own personal disclosures on business blogs.

However, many (perhaps most) of these people prefer to exercise considerable caution about the types of personal info they choose to disclose in a business/professional site – generally steering clear of even remotely controversial or taboo topics.

In other words: They’re open to encountering a wide range of personal disclosures, but they generally remain cautious about what they might reveal about themselves. And I can’t blame them. Revealing anything personal, to anyone, is always risky.

CAVEATS: All of this depends, of course, on whether survey respondents are being honest – and if you consider informal, self-selected surveys of any use at all.

Here are the responses for this question…

Survey Question 8 asked people to explain their answer to Question 7. Here, people had a lot to say! Too much, in fact, to squeeze into my blog’s page layout.

Therefore, I’ve sorted the answers to Question 8 and have compiled them into this 15-page pdf file: Q8results.pdf

Here are example responses from each category:

MAYBE: “…I have mentioned personal things within a business context before and it has gone down well – BUT that was mostly years ago before people became too busy and less tolerant online. I now keep it separate (have a personal blog), but even there, I do not disclose truly personal details. I don’t think people want to read anything now unless it is designed to help THEM.”

YES, I ALREADY DO: “…because I don’t mind hearing about some of the personal details on other people’s business blogs. Without knowing how else to word it, I feel that it shows honesty.”

YES, I’D LIKE TO: “I spend 40-60 hours a week working and/or thinking about work. Why must we segregate our lives into “business” and “personal” – especially with nonprofit work. We are all very passionate about our work and put a lot of ourselves into it. The lines between personal/political/business are often blurred. With that said, conveying professional information should be done well, and doesn’t need to be bogged down by a ton of personal anecdotes. As long as the content is being conveyed effectively when the topic is of professional interest to me, I enjoy a little personal information, and I don’t mind separate posts that are wholly personal. But I reserve the right to skip them.”

NEVER: “I tend to want a clear division between my private life and business life, so probably would not disclose much personal info on a business site. As for others, a little is OK, but too much starts to look unprofessional. If I want confessionals I can always read LiveJournal.”

…And that’s just a tiny sample. Some people went into considerable depth in their responses. I encourage you to download the full list of responses to this question. It’s fascinating to read.

About personal identification: All questions in this survey were optional, including the last one where respondents could identify themselves if they desired, any way they wished. The survey clearly stated that all information (including identification, except e-mail addresses) could be published in Contentious.

In all, 57% of respondents chose to offer some identifying information – not always their name, but in some cases surprising detail.

I thought it was intriguing to juxtapose how people answered the question of whether they’d disclose their own personal info online against whether and how they identified themselves.

Therefore, after each response to Question 8, I’ve listed in italics the general way these people identified themselves – whether they provided names, contact info, descriptive info, URLs, etc. (I don’t show the actual details, I merely describe what kinds of information they offered.) My systems wasn’t completely uniform, but that juxtaposition is still worth considering.

…I will make some general observations about these responses later. I need to consider them more fully first.

NEXT: What would make you stop reading a business blog?
PREVIOUS: Disclosure of depression
Index to the survey results
Overview of numerical results
About this survey.