Facebook users show two faces to the world

Why some people create separate pages for their personal and professional lives

Call it a self-induced, modern-day schizophrenia, but people are starting to split their personalities between separate Facebook pages in the latest movement to live online without having your entire life there.

So, if you’re friends with Judy Stewart, you might be friends with Judy Stewart. On the other hand, you might not.

“It’s not that I have anything to hide on either site, but there are two different worlds I live in,” says Stewart, director of state government relations for the American Cancer Society in Lansing, Mich. “Pictures of me and a friend at the bar might not be appropriate for my professional contacts to see. Plus, the number of friends I was attaining was getting fairly high and I felt I wasn’t able to keep track of people as well.”

Stewart recently un-friended a number of people, sending them a courtesy note that read: “In an effort to better maintain relationships with my professional contacts, I have started a new Facebook page. So, I will soon ‘disappear’ from your friend list but I hope that you will accept the friend request for my new page. See you soon!”