Social Mediators 1: Personal Brand

Each week, Joseph Thornley, Terry Fallis and Dave Fleet will talk about social media, ubiquitous connectivity and their impact on communication, organizations and society. We’re always on, always connected. How are we taking advantage of the new capablities that gives us? And how is that affecting the way we relate to one another and how we organize around common interests? Finally, what does that mean for traditional organizations – companies, cause-based groups and government?

In this first episode, we talk about the concept of personal brand. Terry, David and I will be serving as mentors at the upcoming Personal Brand Camp 2 that Michael Cayley is organizing for the Humber College social media students. So, we talk about some of the issues relating to personal branding and our concern that young people not build an artificial brand online, but instead make sure that their personal brand reflects the same person they’d see when they look in the mirror – their real self.

We also talk about how Thornley Fallis’ new Online Communications Policy guides our employees to understand that what they do in their private online spaces reflects on the judgment they exercise in the workplace and, by extension, on the company.

We’d welcome your comments. What are your thoughts on this topic? What subjects would you like us to tackle in the future?

10 Responses to “Social Mediators 1: Personal Brand”

  1. [...] can leave a written comment below or a webcam comment on the Social Mediators video [...]

  2. congratulations on the launch of the new video series.

    Great first start.

    Video stopped and started several times. Not sure if the problem is at your end or mine, but the stutters make it challenging to watch.

  3. luca fantin says:

    Very interesting this first episode!
    I’d be greatful if u set subtitles for next appointments.
    This way would become another useful tool for any not-mothertongue person and I could promote it among student italian public relation association

    Regards

  4. Megan Wilton says:

    Congrats on the new series!

    As a student of Michael’s in Humber’s certificate program who completed this course last semester, I was a guinea pig of the Personal Brand Camp and assignment. Thank you for perfectly summing up the uneasiness that comes with constructing yourself as a packaged good online.

    I appreciate Michael’s ambitious attitude in taking on a 3 month ‘Social Media’ course, but your insights really gave a lot of perspective on the value and pitfalls of personal branding.

    Cheers

  5. Joe – thanks again for your support of the Humber PR program, from vetting the course about a year ago (available for comment here: http://bit.ly/8YXQtT), to collaborating on this Brand Camp initiative (dets here: http://bit.ly/67I2C2 ) and now with your coverage of the topic with this your very first episode of The Social Mediators.

    I posted a comment contributing to the conversation that you start in the video, over on Dave’s blog: http://bit.ly/cPqUKq

    Cheers,
    Michael

    • thornley says:

      Michael, We’re keen to support Humber and other schools to integrate social media into their courses. Social media is changing so much – empowering us to form communities of interest, changing our expectations of organizations and governments. It’s important that we equip young people to see and make the most of its true potential.

  6. It would be great to be able to subscribe using iTunes as opposed to a feed reader. Your RSS feed would need to be sending an MPEG-4 file of some sort to iTunes. At the moment it just links back to the site’s Flash version.

  7. Congratulations on the new video podcast!

    I found your discussion particularly interesting since I helped Michael Cayley with the first Personal Brand Camp and look forward to this new and improved iteration.

    I look forward to future episodes!

    Cheers,
    Connie

  8. Kalene says:

    I enjoyed watching your first episode and look forward to more. The length of the episode seemed just right. As a PR professor at Humber, I try to help students walk the fine line between being true to themselves and establishing their own professional brand personna as aspiring PR practitioners. I’ve found that some students are unclear about personal lives and professional boundaries. Is social media, given it’s about conversation, changing the rules of what is socially acceptable?