How important is Privacy?

This morning an article on MSNBC got me thinking... ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34825225/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/?GT1=43001 )

How much privacy do we realtors want or think we deserve?

Here we are starting Facebook pages for listings, blogging like crazy, and sending out postcards and advertising in the newspaper. Not long ago, a fellow Broker in my office received complaints when she stuck straws up her nose in a restaurant...someone recognized her as a REMAX agent and called our principle broker saying that her behavior was unprofessional and gross! I couldn't stop thinking, "That's totally me." I AM the person that would, as a grown-up, put straws in my nose, napkin rings on my ears and tuck the tablecloth in my collar if I thought I could get a laugh out of my husband on date night. So is date night now part of my professional networking time? What doesn't count? Every brokerage I've been at has encouraged me to wear my name badge to the grocery store. I don't think anyone at work has seen me going to the grocery store...frankly, I don't want ANYONE to see me without makeup and wearing a baseball cap.

In a world where information has become so accessable, we are forced to become marketing gurus---even more than contract afficianados. Would anyone else agree?