6 votes

The personal brand is dead

2 comments

  1. cloud_loud
    Link
    Hey that’s why I joined this place. That’s exactly what I messaged the guy who gave me an invite code.

    The surprising recent popularity of Discord suggests a nostalgia among members of Gen Z for IRC and forum cultures that existed mostly before they were born.

    Hey that’s why I joined this place. That’s exactly what I messaged the guy who gave me an invite code.

    4 votes
  2. nacho
    Link
    In my field my personal professional brand is worth real money. On different platforms I have different pseudonyms with clear brand-value in the form of ethos/established social credit due to my...

    In my field my personal professional brand is worth real money.

    On different platforms I have different pseudonyms with clear brand-value in the form of ethos/established social credit due to my contributions over years. At least a couple of these pseudonym-brands have led to relevant job offers in my industry. Others I know work where they do because of what they've accomplished with an online username somewhere.

    That has been the case since the large IRC servers were in their heyday.

    I think this discussion from yesterday got it totally right: over-sharing from an everyday life isn't new, exciting or interesting anymore. That's why blogs, instagrams, youtube channels - anyone who has a personal brand, must build that brand with quality content people enjoy.

    Like other professional brands, influencers in whatever form have their personal brand value as a guarantor of quality now: I know whatever they do is generally worth my time, or worth my time often enough that I want to be notified when they release content.

    Funny pictures or whatever have their value due to the qualities the content inherently has, not from who made them or shared them, or where they were picked up.


    If the young people in this article were asked about the values of their Discord-names on servers they're active on, whether they'd be fine to just delete their accounts to start a new one right after, I think the answers would show the personal brand is alive and well. They have social capital, friends, relationships that rely on their account identity.

    The brand it just not connected to real names, it's contained on one platform because who wants their personal opinions to connect back to their professional brand, which is their real name?

    Many people should still build and maintain professional personal brands. Depending on industry, Linked-in, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or other platforms may be the place to do those things.

    Irrespective of where, sharing random personal opinions, pictures of meals or kids shouldn't be part of that brand. Networking isn't dead, it's just continuing to develop.

    3 votes