Clara Shih, the author of The Facebook Era recently gave an interview on Personal Branding and discussed what the Facebook era is and what social networks mean for personal branding.
The Social Networking Era is the technology, business, and cultural transformation in people’s behavior, relationships, and expectations that has come about because of the widespread adoption of social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
The previous Internet Era was marked by the World Wide Web of information and the power of linking content. The Social Networking Era is defined by the World Wide Web of people emerging across these sites and the power of trusted online identity and knowing who is connected to whom and how.
Shih makes the point that social networks have become necessary and powerful for personal branding. Necessary because it is now standard operating procedure to learn about someone by looking them up on Facebook and LinkedIn. Having no presence or worse yet an unprofessional one on those sites is a quick way to be written off.
Shih notes that social networks are powerful for personal branding for a few important reasons: trusted identity, social validation, and as a forum for broadcasting information.
Trusted identity: Social network profiles provide a trusted and widely agreed upon template for communicating your brand — for example, your photo, employer, school, interests, and hobbies. Before, putting this information on your website, email signature, or other communication seemed narcissistic. Now it’s socially acceptable to share this widely.
Social validation: Social networks provide opportunities for social validation, such as public recommendations on LinkedIn and comments/wall posts on Facebook. Before, testimonials and communication between two individuals were largely private. Now, they are largely public.
Forum for broadcasting information: Social networks starting with Facebook created a distribution channel for broadcasting news and updates about individuals. To effectively establish a personal brand, you need reach.
