I disagree.

Doing the right thing, being open & honest – these things are normal. Letting one's insecurities prevent this – not normal. It is, however, pervasive; and in my book, “pervasive” does not equal “normal”.

Is it hard? Sometimes. Does it impact your personal brand? I guess…I think one's personal brand isn't really in their control, much like their reputation. Only thing I can control are my character & my actions. And those things can sometimes serve to reinforce a reputation or personal brand.

Don't believe me? Contrast hotmealer with Pistachio, above…you haven't changed who or how you are to either of these people. You put yourself out there & look what came back. Is it good or bad? Did it change or reinforce your “personal brand” with either of them? Are you going to change who you are or how you behave with either of them or w/others?

That's your call…

i think we should all strive to be in situations where we can be unique, ourselves, and provide value at the same time. then, after some time you develop a reputation (like geoff says)- and then this personal branding thing will seem pointless.

i'm happy for you that you landed in a spot where it's working for you… it definitely makes your professional life more fun, huh?

Again, I use you as an example only because you (and by your own admission) went from zero to sixty extremely fast with Twitter. You are an amazing person, and its all well deserved, but you have a personal brand that you protect, project and craft. That personal brand, to some degree, helps shape how people view you. Do you not agree?

Perhaps, I also have a personal brand, only I dont call it that. Perhaps my personal brand and my personal persona are closer than yours because I have less to protect (no kids, I am not a woman, I am not a consultant, etc.). Who knows.

thinking about your personal brand… waste of time

It seems that we all have different “faces”/facets; even the Beatles sang about it in “Eleanor Rigby”. But, underneath, it is the same person.

Surely, we put on different behaviours and fronts depending on the role that we are taking at the time? As you point out, this is appropriate behaviour and, yes, in a sense it is about “fitting in” or being “similar”; it is also about being effective in that role.

Is this something new, or specific to online interaction? I don't think so. For centuries, some people have specific occupations where they are either “on duty” or “off duty”, and their behaviour differs accordingly. Even if their roles are less delineated, many people's behaviour differs between the environments of the home, the office, and the pub.

Most people would be fairly horrified if they were boarding a scheduled flight and noticed the aircraft captain in his jeans with a beer in his hand and talking to an air traffic controller without conforming to normal aviation phraseology. But in a couple of hours time, that might be exactly what he will be doing!

The same applies to most (all?) professionals: doctors, police officers, fire fighters, and many others. But is applies no less to people in any other job. It is called “doing your job”!

Now, let's forget all that. Let's go to the pub! Actually: let's set up a “pub forum”, …

others can – and will – project upon it what they feel a need to project, and make the arguments with it (such as this post) that they feel a need to make. and what anyone makes of it says more about them than it does about me.

i yam what i yam. i'm just this girl. no, really. really.

“The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life” by Erving Goffman opens with an illustration why everybody is consciously or subconsciously adjusting their presentation to others, based upon context. It's the one book I saved from psych 101. I'll type in a paragraph:

“When an individual enters the presence of others, they commonly seek to acquire information about him or to bring into play information about him already possessed. They will be interested in his general socio-economic status, his conception of self, his attitude toward them, his competence, his trustworthiness, etc. Although some of this information seems to be sought almost as an end in itself, there are usually quite practical reasons for acquiring it. Information about the individual helps to define the situation, enabling others to know in advance what he will expect of them and what they may expect of him. Informed in these ways, the others will know how best to act in order to call forth a desired response from him.”

Malcolm Gladwell in Blink points out how we can do all these things in an instant. And even if we ignore that person, we are behaving in a way to elicit a desired response (don't bother me, ignorable person you).

Is everybody “branding”? Or is it just life? When I lived in New York, for example, I walked fast, avoided eye contact, always moved with purpose, etc. This generated the desired response from others, which was to leave me alone — very important on the streets. When I'm working out, I wear sweats, but when I go to the office or meet with clients, I dress professionally. They're all “me” but all convey very different impressions. In the business context, I would call this “branding” but it's not something so different from the rest of life, just an area that can have profound effects financially and in career.

We all do this to some degree (I swear less for example), but Chris,
Laura (its interesting you refer to her by her twitter name), and
Aaron have become trapped by their decisions around personal brand and
have to select how they act online/offline depending on the group.