Bragging Online Is OK

“Social networking sites have inverted the rules of privacy and etiquette, and no cultural norm is tossed aside more often on the Web than plain old modesty,” writes Evan Ratliff in Wired. Shameless self-promotion is common in cyber space but, “imagine using a lull in dinner party conversation to announce that ‘a man in Texas, whom none of you know, recently told his friends I was named to the Bigtime 100. Salad, anyone?'” “When you celebrate yourself online, are you a willing participant in a brave new social future, or are you just being an ass?…It’s the former — as long as you strike a balance.”