Comments on: To Hell With Personal Branding: Part 2

By: You don’t just define your community - your community defines you | Justice for all

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:38:03 +0000

[...] is a lot of talk of personal branding these days: is it good or bad? How can you build a network of people who respect your personal brand? How can you join a group of [...]

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:32:20 +0000

oops… html typo and no ‘edit’ function.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:31:10 +0000

I disagreed with you in the previous post. I am not in the personal branding business. Therefore, it's strange that your response was still disappointing to me. I guess I was expecting you to come back with something a little meatier. Personal branders: if you guys can’t decide on the same definition, how do you expect us to take you seriously? This is a really fallacious argument. It's like saying that the automobile industry in the 1970's should be done away with or ignored because some hack engineers tried to convince the world that the Ford Pinto was the definition of an 'automobile'. Naturally, Mercedes-Benz would have thought it was silly if people started using Ford's implied definition of what a car should be to redefine the entire industry. What you're essentially saying is that because there are a bunch of hacks who are themselves using weak definitions, the whole industry (and yes, I use that term loosely) should be ignored. While it's certainly your prerogative to think that, I think it's a disservice to your readers to take the least-common-denominator definition and impose it as the correct defintion... then decry the entire industry. In cases in which multiple definitions are suggested, I think it's the responsibility of the bogger (journalist, writer, etc) to pick the best definition. Arguing against the worst one is easy. Your follow-up ultimately feels like a case of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Memes have that tendency... especially within the limited dynamics of the blogosphere feedback loop.

By: Carlos Miceli

Carlos Miceli — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:27:15 +0000

You are too nice, thank you for the words.

Not comfortable? Ignore it. There are no have to’s anymore. The fact that you won’t spend time in social media, does not mean that you won’t work hard on other aspects of your life. Face to face interaction is 1000 times more valuable anyway.

The font? No idea :S

Ha, I’ll tell my designer to see if she can help me with that

By: Jon Chui

Jon Chui — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:26:38 +0000

@Carlos – every word you type is music to my ears! Seriously!

Interestingly, I watched you on MVD and then saw your writing on the new @Untemplatar, and didn’t realize you were the same guy who wrote the “to hell with personal branding part 1″ post!

Love it!!! Keep it up! Seriously.

One question though (and this should guage whether you actually care enough to read these comments since it’s in the middle): What’s the solution to “presenting” yourself well, when you’re not “comfortable” with Social Media.

Ie. I’m comfortable with people. love interacting face to face. But feel fake on social media. Why do I have to tweet that i metup with “so and so”. Why do i have to start worrying about whether or not I should be tweeting/facebooking/blogging about something, instead of actually enjoying what I’m doing!? Boggles my mind. The people that seem to be best at Social Media & Personal Branding seem to be comfortable narcissists.

On a complete aside:

love your font. what is it?

Also, you know the “Notify me of followup comments via email” below this comment box?

It should really read:
“Notify me of followup comments THAT MENTION ME” or “THAT REPLY TO ME” or (smart AI) “discuss the theme of [insert Machine Learned themes of your comment]” #justsayin

By: Brett - DareToExpress.com

Brett - DareToExpress.com — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:45:16 +0000

Awesome post Carlos – but there are some who can take “personal branding” to new heights. And by that I mean they establish personal brands without trying to make a personal brand. They’re that authentic and down-to-earth and cool that they don’t HAVE to establish a personal brand in order to get more attention. They attract enough attention on their own.. Being them. A personal brand should just be a reflection of your personality, not some bloated ego-like structure that kills the soul and your ability to be authentic. It should showcase who you are – nothing more, nothing less. That’s why it’s PERSONAL.

Nice work, man. I’m clicking that RSS subscription button now

Have a good one!

By: Carlos Miceli

Carlos Miceli — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:53:50 +0000

Personal branding has been around forever. How it’s playing out today has not. The examples that you give are not similar to what we are asked to do today online.

I don’t get why people take it so personal, it’s not “hate.” It’s criticism.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:35:28 +0000

You may not like the term, or how it’s playing out today, but personal branding has been around forever.

Take Queen Victoria, whose little hands and large shadow has kept tiny forks present at Britain’s royal tables even today, or the “pioneering image-maker of the Western world: Louis XIV,” who, the New York times reported, “seems to have clicked on the 17th-century version of the ‘manage my image’ long before the most basic of media communications.”

Just because people are talking about something now that hasn’t traditionally been talked about doesn’t mean it’s wrong or a “rip-off.” Some people naturally “get it.” Some people don’t. I don’t get all the hate.

By: Carlos Miceli

Carlos Miceli — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:30:39 +0000

Like I said, branders are free to ignore us. But I don’t think that’s a good idea.

You are right though on the wave statement. And that’s what depresses me. It’s scholar’s marketing again. Hey, I know how to play the game. But that doesn’t make me hate it less.

I miss you too man, I’m just not as interesting without you here! Keep rocking it man, good luck finding a way to get to Antarctica!

By: Colin Wright

Colin Wright — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:08:38 +0000

Then again, who cares if you don’t like the term or not?

Whether or not you approve, the people with stronger brands are the ones getting attention and making waves.

Miss you buddy. Salud from waaaaay down south: Ashuaia, Tierra del Fuego!