Personal Branding: You are now a product. Get used to it.

Welcome to the Internet. Welcome to Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitter. Welcome to Mixx and Digg and Propeller and MySpace, Bebo, Reddit, YouTube and 1000 others? And you're a personality on every one - did you know that? Do you know that?

Every time you register for a site, you need a nickname or a screen name. Most sites give you an option for a picture, or a lot of pictures - and over time, for as many social networking sites as you might sign up for, you begin to aggregate an image or a series of images. The question over time then becomes, "But, is that a saleable image?" or in many cases "Is that an image I'd want my boss to see?" - or my mother?.

Here's a test for everyone: A while back, I did a post about a new service called Rapportive. Rapportive is a service that collects public data about "you" and then displays it to "me" - on my Gmail sidebar. Go to Rapportive.com and register. Then see how social networks report on you, and what they report. You will definitely be surprised - and maybe not in a pleasant way.

That's an effect of Personal Branding. Or a part of it anyway.

And there are many parts. Is your Screen Name the same on every site you're a member of? Is your photo the same? And is it a good photo? And on Facebook, is there a picture of you in your underwear dancing on a table somewhere? You may not want that. With personal branding, you control the images that people see, and you control the words they read as well - especially on LinkedIn. I can't tell you how many bios I see that simply list everywhere a person has worked and spend little or no time with what they actually accomplished in that position - and that I believe is a selling opportunity missed. Personal branding is being able to manage and direct ones image to be not only positive, but potentially profitable in the long run. And that's a lot more work than people think these days.

For instance: I work my Personal Branding on two fronts. There is the Product Branding I do to promote my book, Wild Wild East - and this blog is part of that. And there is my Personal Branding, in which I am the writer of that book. So, on Facebook, you see my handle as WildWildEast, because that reinforces a personal product - But on LinkedIn, I promote my own name only with little mention of Wild Wild East, except for the link to this blog. The Product Branding supports me, and my Personal Branding supports my professional work as a writer, with only a slight nod to the book. If your an accountant but also publish a knitting blog, that might be something interesting about you personally in terms of a LinkedIn link, but it's doubtful that your knitting blog will get you much accounting work. The important thing is to divide what is personal from what is professional and do that clearly - and then make good branding decisions based on the market you're reaching through the site.

And don't think your boss, can't find your Facebook page. He can.

Feel free to contact me on Personal Branding issues. From writing CVs and structuring the difference between LinkedIn and Facebook presentations, to more complex issues like how to effectively cross-manage 10 social networking sites, whatever you're doing is creating an image. Make sure it's the best it can be. You are now a brand. Get used to it.

A War of the Words - But Who's Words?

Fresh from a week's worth of Facebook blackouts, the helicopters of the resistance flew over the CBD dropping leaflets with reverse propaganda decrying the propagation of the other propaganda. A ballsy move for sure but a move aimed at infecting the masses with the new media message that the more the powers that be try to suppress and control information, the more information will behave in the manner of a thousand one-celled animals and simply multiply - exponentially.

This cartoon by Stuart McMillen juxtaposes the views of Aldous Huxley & George Orwell. In short, Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information (The Chinese model) whilst Huxley feared those who would give us so much information, that we would just drown in our own bullshit (The American model). And who's to say who's right? Both models suck - and in a perfect world we would get all the information that is valuable to those of us chasing the pursuit of happiness with all of the chaff filtered out from the wheat of knowledge that we need. But it's not a perfect world, is it? See the ministry's circular below.
Ministry of Manifestos. Distopian Soup

For all those in the intelligencia here in Vietnam who decry the blocking of Facebook every time the party convenes for some important meeting, there are a few million more who cry out over Facebook's apparent lack of concern for our privacy in the US. So who's to blame? "We have seen the enemy and it are us", it is said.

For all the 'freedom of speech' rhetoric we are like to hear from our liberal comrades in the west, we never thought that freedom would extend to people whom we do not know, and who care not a goddamn about our privacy but are more interested in the area of exploiting our information towards the dissection of a market that can then be sold to the highest bidder. Yes, people will actually pay to reach brains dumb enough to let all of their private parts hang out on the digital clothesline for all to see. "Hello moron. Need some washing powder - fabric softener?"

And so, all of a sudden, the protection of that information, that we so willingly put out there, becomes of paramount concern. I Tweet, therefore I am - vulnerable. And I am also a member of who knows how many other services, that I may not have daily activity with, but they're still distributing my information - like Freindster, Gravatar and MySpace. For all the countries that are trying their damnedest to suppress information, the greater lot of us are just throwing it out there like there's no tomorrow. It's a Brave New World all right. But none of us should be so brave as to go into it naked.

So get out your keyboard and type the following: Rapportive & Rapleaf. See what they've got on you, and then go back and do a little revisionist history. It will certainly be no worse than what the communist states are doing by not letting it out in the first place. Orson Welles envisioned a War of the Worlds where aliens would come and envelope the human race - and what it seems to have come down to is his title, minus the letter "l", where the world envelopes itself by the words it chooses to use or not use. Just remember, we all decide which words are used about us.

Rapportive: My new Toy. Watch out!

I was having a gTalk chat with the Executive Editor at Technorati, whom I have never met, and he said, "You are/were with Leo Burnett, right?", and I asked him how he knew that. "Rapportive", he answered. It's an app that's compatible with Google and it gives you a sidebar with information about the person who is sending you email. Cool. Or cool? (with a shiver)

I immediately downloaded and installed the app and voi la! There in gorgeous color and text was a complete bio of the person I was talking to. All his past jobs, his present jobs, a few tweets and some whatnot. Whatnot for sure.

I checked my own bio by pulling up an email I had written to someone else and holy frickin' jeezuz! There's a rap sheet on me a mile long. This thing is dangerous, especially if someone else is using it.

Imagine you meet a girl in a bar and things are going fairly well so you pull up her email on your iPhone and find out that she's really a man and has had a stellar career in the sex toy industry, right there on your email sidebar. "Another marguerita honey?". I don't think so.

But it's an app, it's out there and it's free, so better to get your hands on one now and play offensive instead of being on the defensive later with your wife, girlfriend, boss or parole officer. Once on the Internet, nobody can really hide anymore. And that is the absolute God-given truth.

I futzed with the app a bit and found that it collects all sorts of data from social networks, Facebook, etc., that you're a member of, and also takes tons of Google profile info and makes it public, but once installed, you are able to go in and edit this info so all your underwear isn't flapping about in the digital breeze. I deleted all my old jobs so only my present title and company show up.

Take a look-see up above for a sample of what it does. It only works with Google currently but I wouldn't be surprised to see Yahoo and others far behind. Damn. Being a stalker used to be fun. Now they can see you coming in 360. Privacy takes another hit at the hands of the Digerati. Orwell was only off by twenty six years or so.

See my Technorati story on this same subject by clicking here.