I think it’s a legitimate fear. For me, I try to avoid the usual inflammatory topics: politics, religion, race, sexuality, etc.

In fact, I’ll generally only write about things like that in relation to current affairs. Even then I’ll try to be extra moderate, sensitive and respectful.

At the end of the day, there’s some people out there that’ll probably get offended by what you say. Just like there would be in person. And it’s tough to give your thoughts knowing it could give people a bad opinion of your company or brand.

So I think it’s a very personal choice.

For me, I think the good that I could do outweighs the risks. For instance, I sometimes introduce myself to people online, then find they’re already aware of me because of my presence on Medium and Quora. It’s nice, because it means I’ve made at least a tiny impact on them before.

At the end of the day, I think you just have to trust that people can separate your personal and business interests, and make up their own minds. At least that’s what I tell myself :)