Are you the real online you?

The mainstream press has discovered Web 2.0. Here is an interesting piece in the BBC about what they claim is a growing phenomenon amongst busy people, hiring someone to attend your online presence via blogs and social networking. To be honest, I found the premise for the article rather thin, "a friend of a friend claims to pay someone to maintain his blog entries". You know, a friend of a friend claims to have met aliens from the Orion belt...

Nevertheless, I can see the potential allure in such a notion. As a fierce Web 2.0 warrior, I have first-hand experience in the amount of effort required to maintain a continuous web presence. I can see how very busy people would like to maintain the semblance of communication, but would not have time to do it. The legalities of such actions are not problematic whatsoever, a simple work-for-hire scheme, an employment contract no different from an assistant writing letters for his boss.

Then again, how do you know that I'm really me? *cue eerie Twilight Zone music*