For the record, this quote from Flexknowlogy (“Defining ‘Creepy Treehouse’“):

In the field of educational technology a creepy treehouse is an institutionally controlled technology/tool that emulates or mimics pre-existing technologies or tools that may already be in use by the learners, or by learners’ peer groups. Though such systems may be seen as innovative or problem-solving to the institution, they may repulse some users who see them as infringement on the sanctity of their peer groups, or as having the potential for institutional violations of their privacy, liberty, ownership, or creativity. Some users may simply object to the influence of the institution.

One of my colleagues did an informal survey of his students to see whether this notion had any validity to it and a fair amount of them said “yes.” I can’t recall the statistics, but it does suggest that some areas – like school and private life – should be kept separate.

That said, as you say, when 3rd party tools like Google make it virtually impossible to separate your online activities, it raises some very interesting implications for online interaction in general.

Personally I’ve adopted a different attitude about it all. I have so many accounts on so many sites across the internet there is no way I can maintain any sort of anonymity, so I just behave under the assumption that people I don’t want to find me will anyway.

One aspect of online communities that I often think about is not so much the similarities, but the differences. For example: I currently only use one online persona, or nom de blog if you prefer. Under that persona I comment on a variety of blogs ranging from professional, like this one, through to, well… lets just say edgy and eclectic and leave it at that. Comments that I make in one blog – say one dealing with weight loss and confidence issues would be inappropriate on this forum. However, through the power of google they can be associated and, like Obama found out wrt Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. – you may want to distance yourself form what other people say.

That can be a force that inhibits community