Image Credit: iDream_in_Infrared on Flickr.
Personal. Branding.
Two words that make me shudder. Yet again I am late with my entry – not due to workload but simply because I didn’t want to have to deal with this topic. To me ‘personal branding’ brings to mind the idea of desperation in a cheap suit, the sort of individual who likes the sound of their own voice, who is eager to prove to everyone who gives them even the slightest amount of attention that they are in fact someone.
This sounds scathing and indeed it is. I have met too many of these individuals in my life and the idea of being such a person is too much to bear.
However, I do have a Twitter, and a Linked-In, and I used to be a Blogger on a very successful site (which was voted one of Cosmopolitan magazine’s Blogs of the Year for 2010). I have a Facebook, a Livejournal, a Tumblr and have previously been active on many an internet community in the areas where my interests lie.
My online presence then is very strong; my personal brand however is not, especially with regards to librarianship. This blog is the first truly librarian-y thing that I have ever set up. My Twitter, Tumblr and other social media outlets are not library or librarian-focused, they are very much personal. I often fear in fact, that people will be disappointed when they follow me on Twitter expecting lots of library related debate and comments – this is not the case. I have been on Twitter for nearly three years, over a number of different accounts and name changes and my account has been locked and unlocked numerous times. My Twitter is actually very much personal – I started it when I frequented a fashion-related community, then I became a shoe blogger. I then starting writing for a football website and went to library school. In short, I have many different people who follow me for many different things. My tweets reflect this.
Sometimes I prattle about shoes, other times I lament my beloved Arsenal or Real Madrid, other times I tweet about library related things. I am loathe to start a library only Twitter, as I feel that I am not just a librarian – I am the sum of many parts. My Twitter and my Tumblr are a reflection of my whole identity and interests, rather than a specific part of it. A lot of people feel differently, but I just can’t bring myself to compartmentalise my life into different interests and use social media specifically targeted at each area.
Interestingly though, the people that added me and followed me for very different reasons are now becoming aware of my job and my interest in libraries, and I have had a number of things tweeted in my direction from people who think I would be interested in library related news they have come across on the web, which pleases me immensely. Not only am I bringing my interest in the world of libraries to a wider audience, but am also being introduced to things that maybe people in the library-bubble wouldn’t come across.
I am aware, despite my dislike for the idea of ‘personal branding’ that it is something that I need to consider. This is partially the reason that I am doing these 23 Things, to start getting me more involved with the online information community. This is a start anyway… right?
Exactly. The term 'personal brand' should make any sensible person shudder. But if it just means thinking about how you come across to other people then that's fair enough. We really should just think of something else to call it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point about coming across things that you might have missed if you were purely focussed on library stuff.