What about your personal brand and legacy on Steem?
Are you a nice person?
Of course.
Because we all think we are. And just to prove it, the people who know you best would totally agree. Right?
But what about your social media friends and followers? They’re not close friends. They probably barely know you. Or do they?
What’s your personal brand?
Your personal brand? Only celebs and Instagram stars have personal brands, don’t they?
Nope.
If you’re posting content online – of any kind (even Steemit comments), you have one too.
Because your personal brand is how you’re perceived by others. And if you want to grow an audience, as many on Steem do, it’s a pretty big deal. Why? We’re attracted to people we like.
So, how’s your personal brand?
Well, if you’ve not been paying it any attention, it’s probably not the best. And if you’re trolling in the comments…?
Before we continue, this isn’t a post about how you build a personal brand – I’m reminding you that you have one.
But while your personal brand serves you today, and should be built upon for tomorrow, long, long-term, your legacy is way more important.
How will you be remembered?
We all want to make a mark; to be remembered. Your legacy is just that.
Social media has made us the first “on the record” generation. In increasing numbers, we’re recording and sharing our lives – every event, activity and thought we’re inspired to have.
All this personal information sticks around. Even if Facebook, or Twitter disappear, the data they hold (and you gave them) won’t.
Our digital footprints are far more visible than our offline lives.
Previous generations had the luxury, if you look at it that way, of living relatively “under the radar”. So, their legacy was mostly built in the eyes, and hearts of the people who knew them best – and usually passed along verbally.
We’re building our legacies in plain sight, by how we act online.
And on Steem
On a blockchain like Steem; a huge decentralised database, your data is fully accessible, indexed by Google and available to everybody – forever.
There are no privacy settings, and the platform by its nature isn’t censored, so you’re free to say and do as you want. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Steem is a power for good but should also be treated with caution.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing
We’re quick to give our opinions, often before we know the whole story, or consider both sides.
We don’t have the benefit of hindsight, but future generations will. Our snap-judgements and opinions may one day paint us as a fool.
I was (and still am) a huge Michael Jackson fan. Whilst writing this post, I couldn’t get the chorus of History (released in 1995, pre-social media) out of my head. It sums up my point perfectly.
But surely, we don’t really need to worry about legacy? We, and our data, will be lost in the crowd. It’s called ‘big data’ for a reason. Nobody will ever look through everything we’ve posted.
An overview of your digital footprint
One of the biggest problems (outside of poverty, climate, war, famine, of course!) we face today is information overload.
But technology moves fast, and often surprises us – just look at blockchains.
What if, in the next 5, 10, even 20 years, there’s an AI, or machine learning app to collate, summarise and present our whole digital footprint in a searchable, user-friendly format?
Big data; on, and for everyone.
So, anybody interested in who we are, or were, has easy access.
And you know how, as a society, we just love to rank, and score everything. How will you score, and what will those scores be used for?
Cool?
Well that would depend on how you’ve been behaving, what you’ve said, and how much of an eye to the future you’ve had all these years.
Nobody’s perfect.
We all do, and say stupid things at times, and I believe this will be taken into account. But when you look at the data over long periods, patterns emerge. You build an accurate picture of somebody by looking at their behaviour over any length of time.
What you share, you can’t hide.
So, next time you’re posting to, or commenting on Steem, imagine your son, daughter, or future grandchildren are reading along, learning what you were really like as a person.
Telling my story and building a brand
I’ve followed Gary Vaynerchuk (GaryVee) online for years.
One thing he talks about – a lot, is that we [he’s talking to entrepreneurs, but this might apply to anyone] should be thinking of ourselves as media companies – and documenting our journey.
Well I’m taking his advice.
I joined Steem as M_SSED_T because I want to build a lifestyle brand. I don’t have a set, or limited definition of what M_SSED_T might become, but I want to touch on street fashion, art, product design – hence the broad label, “lifestyle brand”.
Who am I?
I’m a creative.
I don’t live in any one box, I wear many hats – artist, designer, photographer, coder. And I’m on a journey to discover which hat suits me best, where I excel – and to learn, make mistakes and grow.
That’s the journey I want to document – the legacy I want to leave.
I have a five-year old daughter, Elida – and I’m documenting my journey for her. She’ll always be my primary audience. Because I know that whatever I create, or produce, she might consume it one day (Hi Elida, I love you).
I hope to teach her, through my actions, about taking a chance, believing in yourself and being entrepreneurial. Because I want her to be happy, and to have as many options open as possible. I’m giving her insights into who I am, beyond what she’d otherwise see.
And if I do build M_SSED_T into something notable, having documented how I got there will become a lot more interesting, and valuable, to others too.
I’d love your advice
It’d be nice to have you follow along with my journey too – maybe you can learn from my mistakes?
But I’d also love your advice.
How do you think I should document what I’m doing? Written word, video, audio? How should I share my creative process, what I learn, what I’m doing and the challenges I face?
I’ve given these questions a lot of thought, but any ideas you might have would be greatly appreciated.
This is brilliant post. I am impressed with your outlook. My only single advice is just don’t plan. Let it evolve. Share what u feel like Sharing. Don’t pretend instead just be.
Thank you so much - especially for your advice. I'm a planner and perfectionist by nature, but trying not to be on both counts.
As far as what M_SSED_T will be offering, I have lots of ideas, but I'm flexible in where it goes. But in what I share, I hope to document (warts and all), not paint a PR'd version of what I think people might want. There's plenty I don't know, and I'll be sharing what I learn as I go.
Authenticity is important, especially today.
Great article, I find it can be difficult to find your place if your posts are not noticed. It does take time to perfect and create posts....great post to get people thinking. A good place to start.
Thank you so much. I've not done an "introduce yourself" post on Steem, so was thinking of that to begin with, but the more I thought about it, the more I moved to talking about personal branding and legacy - more important topics than a personal intro.
1.your personal brand is how you’re perceived by others.
2.We’re attracted to people we like.
3.Our snap-judgements and opinions may one day paint us as a fool.
These are some important point. People just dont think,what they are doing. Their writing here tells us- his/her.....personality, how as a human being and everything. So, people should be careful what they do.
Thanks for commenting. Yes, all these things are far more important if you're trying to build an audience - which is what most people here are trying to do.
I can understand the throw-away commenting more on Twitter or Facebook, where you might not be thinking about your image, or reputation, but on Steem it's important how people see you.
To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.
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This is a very interesting topic for sure. For the first time in history our digital actions can have a direct impact on our future on the internet. Best to take care in creating a positive impact.
I think too many people on Steem (and social media in general) don't think about how they're portraying themselves, and who to. I've tried not to be too preachy in my post - I hope I don't come across that way!