Your Personal Brand Doesn't Have an "OFF" Switch

Developing a personal brand is a "must" these days as you navigate your future.

A strong personal brand can be good for business, your career and your life.  A poor personal brand can result in a reputation that makes you and your company taboo. To develop a personal brand, you need to identify how you want to be perceived and then work day and night to build that identity.  However, far too many people tend to believe that a personal brand only exists in business meetings. 

In today's digital world, your brand is not just a reflection of how you perform when people are around.  If you actively engage in social media, your personal brand is engaging with you.  Your brand is on display for the entire world to see anytime you're on Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter. Before I post anything online I always ask myself if there is anyone who might see the post that would cause me or someone else embarrassment.  If the answer is "yes", then it won't go up. 

Your brand is always on display offline as well.  If you run into a business colleague at the supermarket on a Sunday afternoon, your brand is standing right beside you.  Do you care if your colleague sees you unshaven in a ripped tee shirt and flip flops?  Some people may, others may not.  Only you can define the parameters of your personal brand.

However, your personal brand doesn't have an "off" switch that you can just flip when you leave the office.  We're all constantly being judged and we're all constantly judging others, whether we'll openly admit or not.

Recently, I was invited to visit the home of a colleague who lives there with his wife and son.  The wife uses the basement as an office for her business.  My colleague apparently failed to communicate with his wife that I would be stopping by so she was very surprised when I was escorted into her office to say "hello".  She graciously welcomed me, but was clearly a bit bothered by the unexpected visit.  I felt bad as either she forgot I was coming or her husband forgot to tell her.  They actually spoke about the misunderstanding in front of me which made me a little uncomfortable. 

I'm sure one of the reasons the wife was troubled when she saw me was because her office was a mess!  It was in complete disarray.  I would never want to have a client or colleague in my office if it looked the way hers did.  Boxes were everywhere, piles of paper on the floor, food on the desk, drawers and cabinets hanging open, clothes piled up in the corner.  She was a bit disheveled since she probably had no meetings scheduled that day. She simply didn't have the polished look I was used to seeing.  While I'm sure she had no intention of creating that scenario, I couldn't help but wonder if she ran her business that way.  If she couldn't even keep her own office organized, how did she keep her client's needs and projects organized?  I'm sure she was quite embarrassed. 

While I understand that this was her home, which most of us rightly view as our personal sanctuary, it was also her place of business.  And in business, you never know when something unexpected is going to occur, so you always have to plan for those occasions.

Though we aren't close, I have known this woman for several years so my impression of her wasn't dramatically altered.  But what if it wasn't someone who knew her as long as I have that walked into the room that day?  What if it was a prospective client?  I'm sure that being incredibly sloppy and unorganized is not the impression she would have wanted to make.

My point is that one's personal brand is a reflection of who you are and how you are perceived whether you like it or not and whether you are prepared for it or not.  You have to be "on" all the time.  Now that doesn't mean you have to wear a business suit whenever you go out to the supermarket or that you can't show a little passion when watching your favorite sporting event.  But it does mean that you need to recognize that others are passing judgment on you 24/7, not just between 9 and 5.  Your personal brand is always under the microscope.

Is there a bit of paranoia attached to maintaining a personal brand?  Perhaps "paranoia" is too strong a word.  But in a world where first impressions AND second impressions count, you have to remain vigilant in building and protecting your reputation.  You never know when an opportunity may pass you by because you let your guard down for just a moment.

What's the old saying?  "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and you can fool some of the people all of the time.  But you can't fool all of the people all of the time." 

The Great Facebook Addiction (revised)

Is Facebook the drug of our generation? The answer is a big embarrassing "yes" says an interesting new study by Ars Technica.

Except we youngsters can't even say that anymore, now that we're Facebooking our moms and whatnot. As a direct quote from the study explains, "Students from 10 countries... all reported distress, isolation, confusion, boredom, and a feeling of addiction when they had to go 24 hours without any form of media, including Internet."Apparently a large amount of this distress was in reaction to not having access to Facebook.

Lets take a moment to think that one over. What is it we do on Facebook? Post status updates about our fun Friday night? Whine about final exams? Boast about our vacations and semesters abroad through cleverly titled photo albums? I'm an addict and I'll be the first to admit it, but I've never felt so silly about that until just now. In fact, now that I really think about it, not once since I became Facebook active have I gone more than a few days without checking in. And now that I have my trusty iPhone in my pocket at all times (God help us all if I don't) it's certainly less sparatic than a few days. Maybe more like a few hours?

This study has really got me thinking about deleting my Facebook account and seeing how long it takes me to start "itching like a crack head," as one study participant put so eloquently. In fact, earlier this semester in my Media Communication class we had an assignment to watch one movie from beginning to end to see how long we could make it without signing on to any sort of social network. Sounds easy enough, right? Turns out I was a bit optimistic starting out this assignment. I decided to watch the cult classic “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead”, thinking it would be silly enough to hold my attention and keep my idle hands from wandering to my keyboard. Thinking ahead, I made sure to keep my laptop in my bedroom far out of reach... Ten minutes later, I found myself grabbing my iPhone and opening the Facebook application, completely out of habit. Here's how is played out: What was new? Not much, the usual friend connection in my newsfeed, a comment on my latest mobile upload of a puppy at Town Lake, a new photo ablum of my old classmate Lindsey's trip to Spain. Interesting, I haven't seen her in about five years, lets see what she's up to. Spain sounds so fancy. Sorry to end the story early, I know it was a real nail-biter, but in the essence of time I'll keep it short.

Of course I had to report to class the next day and embarrassingly admit to my Facebook addiction – only to find out that it was the case with almost the entire classroom. If Facebook is a drug, then we are all addicts. But to be realistic, the Facebook addiction isn’t something to laugh off – it is gaining attention from credible institutions who are worried about the outcome of over exposure to the social networking site and what it can do to a persons personal life and general productivity. Says Elizabeth Cohen of CNN, “Although there are no statistics on "Facebook addiction" -- it isn't an actual medical diagnosis -- therapists say they're seeing more and more people… who've crossed the line from social networking to social dysfunction.”

As you saw in my description, my Facebook experience that evening while I should have been watching a movie uninterrupted by social networking was less than exciting or informational (about things that actually matter, that is). Yet, when is it ever either of those things? In the study on Facebook addictions detailed in the CNN article, a woman named Cynthia admits to being a Facebook addict. She spends an unbelievable amount of time every week dedicated to Facebook. She does use it somewhat for work related needs, as she is the owner of an online retail store who likely promotes through and advertises on the site, but the rest of the time is merely recreational use - the same as what most of us use it for. How did she get on Facebook in the first place? "My daughter just got married, and I got great happiness posting her wedding pictures for all my friends to see", says Cynthia. That's how it all began, that's how it gets you. The same certainly goes for me - I created a Facebook account for the same reasons that I check in daily now, to keep in touch with my friends at home while I am away at college as well as to build connections with the countless new people I meet in Austin all the time. Facebook has so many benefits - it really has become a new way to network socially - but what happens to the old fashion kind of social networking? The kind where you call people when you miss them so that you can hear their voice? Is that being replaced by interactions of the digital age?

As seen in the CNN artivle as well as in countless others like it on the subject, you know you're a Facebook addict when you are effected by the five red flag symptoms (taken from the CNN article):

1. You lose sleep over Facebook

2. You spend more than an hour a day on Facebook

3. You become obsessed with old loves

*(one of my personal favorite topics, see below!)

4. You ignore work in favor of Facebook

5. The thought of getting off Facebook leaves you in a cold sweat

As promised, I must touch on my favorite negative outcome of Facebook use. Drama. Specifically in your relationship. This website is like love-eating poison to relationships, and it seems that Facebook is becoming the true sworn enemy to love birds all over the world. While its true that sometimes Facebook reunites old flames, sometimes it does so with people who are already married. It's true - according to US lawyers, "Facebook is a top cause of relationship trouble". Two-thirds of those lawyers say its a "primary source in divorce evidence".

Now that we have all the facts, let us all take a moment to reflect on our own Facebook use. Maybe some of us are addicts. Perhaps some of us use it merely recreationally - pffft, heard that one before. And for the rest who are just too cool to be on Facebook - the whole world thinks you're a snob.