Harpist Extraordinare OR Adorkable Music Nerd?

..... depends on where you look.

Who is this Caitlin Thom? Want to know? Well then for heaven's sake don't do something insane like talk to her! Start with the most reliable source of all:

THE INTERNET.

Step 1: GOOGLE

Off to a good start. We have several links and some pictures. But who is she? Click to find out!

Step 2: YOUTUBE

Ooooooohhhhhhhh harp candenza followed by jazz trio. This seems pretty legit. But my attention span isn't long enough for this so let's check out the facebook page in the top right corner.

Step 3: FACEBOOK FAN PAGE

Meh. Only 104 likes and hasn't posted since July. Let's go back to the second result on google.

Step 4: TWITTER

This is certainly not an account for the masses. Only 155 followers? Weaaaak. This is crap, mostly hardcore band/music nerd crap, inside jokes, or puns... or inside joke-music nerd crap-puns.

DO YOU THINK I'M JOKING?

Coolness factor non-existent. Maybe she should try posting something that ISN'T stupid for a change? Like a cat photo or celebrity retweet... Seriously, come on!

Moving on....

Step 5: PERSONAL FACEBOOK

Well, we can tell that she plays the harp, is going to college at Augustana, and recently made an impressive fruit-stacking accomplishment in the CSL. *sigh* Looking a little less like a professional harpist and more like a dork. Hmmmm.....

And let's not get started on instagram. (spoiler alert: it's just pictures of harps, her friends, and teddygrahams).

STILL. NOT. JOKING.

Now, what I have just taken you through is the aspects of my e-dentity that I was entirely in control of. I made the choice to create a youtube channel so I could share some of my performances and compositions. I made a twitter (for no good reason I'm sure) and for a while I liked posting silly musical things on it and saying #yoloswag. As for facebook, I control what I post and I can untag myself if I don't like the picture.

The e-dentity that I created is a reflection of several things. Youtube: sharing my passions and displaying my skills (I want people to hire me for weddings and such). Facebook: networking with friends, family, and acquaintences. Twitter: like a diary for things that I think are funny to share with totally random musicians from around the world who follow me because they, too, are shameless nerds.

But there's more to my e-dentity that I don't control.

My e-dentity exists out of my control in some aspects--luckily in a good way. You see here a marketing campaign I was asked to be a part of for my credit union. The Quad City Times, Quad City Symphony Orchestra, Quad City Wind Ensemble, Catfish Jazz Society, and several other respectable Quad City organizations also contain little bits of my e-dentity: successes, honors and awards, and positive affirmation of my skills, abilities, and positive attitude.

This part of my e-dentity exists out of merit, and that's something I can be proud of. I didn't ask for the e-dentity given to me by others. I feel almost like the "version" of my e-dentity controlled by others is more genuine. They show how I actually am in the real world.

Unlike what I might try to do while crafting my own e-dentity, they aren't trying to make me look cool.

I AM COOL. So they had the good sense to interview me, give me awards, write and articles about me.

It's not the pictures that I chose. It's not the post I carefully worded. It's not the online person I tried to craft. It is who I am in the real world, shared online because, hey, I have accomplished some really awesome things.

So if the e-dentity created for me by others is the better one, why even do my own thing on the internet? Some of the things I post just make me look silly and less professional. So now I'm wondering...

Keep it real (do my own thing and continue posting things about myself)?

Or keep it really real (still do my own thing but just let others take care of posting about it)?