Social Marketing Journal had a post today called, Is Social Media Starting to Rebel. In general the post talks about the deletion of accounts at Facebook and the changing of names at Bebo.
Andy Beal was one of the members who brought the ‘profile changes’ on Bebo to the limelight.
He is quoted saying,
“Let this be a warning. Don’t ever rely 100% on your social networking profile for brand building. Bebo-and perhaps others-can and will change your profile without warning”
The Social Marketing Journal goes on to say that bloggers and social media users should be wary when it comes to using social media as a branding tool. At least not as your major tool.
I don’t completely agree with the stance of the Social Marketing Journal. Just because a website or social media community has the ability to change your information doesn’t mean you should be wary of using social media as one of the staples to your branding strategy.
The truth of the matter is this:
If you are spending time on your networks and investing yourself into the community will you not have a problem with the branding behind your profile. The people who have problems (when their profiles are changed) are the individuals who start profiles just to be ON the site and not INVESTING in the site.
Being on and Investing in a social media community are two completely different concepts. Anyone can sign up for a social platform but not everyone can spend the time and energy it takes to invest in the community of the site.
When you invest in the community you shouldn’t have a problem with the changing of a profile or your brand identity.
This does not go to say that you shouldn’t worry about your profiles online. Whether or not you should be wary of social media for personal branding is up for question.
You make a reasonable argument however both Andy Beal and Social Marketing Journal have strong arguments as well.
The bottom line from their posts is that even if you invest in this sites, as many do, you may still end up with your profile name being changed. All the time you have invested will be lost – at least until you can reacquaint everyone with your new profile name.
I agree however, that individuals should be using these sites in the right manner, not to just game them – if we can ever find a gaming filter we will all be better off.
cheers
les
Hey Les
Thanks for the comment. I guess my question is how hard would it be to change the profile name back? If you have a loyal following it shouldn’t be hard to transfer the message.
It still would be a hit to recognition but not as severe as some may think.
People need to start protecting themselves by staging their own “personal brand property.” This means that you need your own website or blog outside of all your social networks. If you don’t, you may have nothing left 20 years from now when there is something more revolutionary than social networks.
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