If you knew that the biggest opportunity of your lifetime was following your twitter feed or googling your online activity, would you still tweet like that?

Would you still post those photos? Or update your Facebook that way? We are what we “tweet”. We are what we upload. We are what we update. In this social media age, our personal brands are what we show the world. Everything is social. Everything is digital. Social interaction is all in reverse. We meet people through social media before ever meeting them in person. Opinions are formed long before first meetings. What does this mean for us as personal brands?

It means that now more than ever, Everything we do is an Experience. It means we need to ask ourselves some interesting questions. What types of experiences are we giving the people we haven’t even met yet? Those that are seeing us, but we aren’t seeing them? Life is like a concert. And we’re always on stage. There’s always an “audience”. We may not see everyone in the “audience” during “the concert”, but they ALL see us. From the VIP seats up front, to the 500 level nosebleed seats. What are we saying as they observe us and our “performance”? This isn’t to say we should be fake or not authentically ourselves. We just need to be CONSCIOUS of our actions.

In this social media age, it’s so easy to share a thought, to tweet, to upload, etc. and sometimes we don’t think consciously about things. How will my tweets affect my personal brand, my relationships (employer, partners, family, friends, etc)? It’s a subtle thought, but that conscious decision can make all the difference between an opportunity, or no opportunity.

“We are not Rihanna”. Social media access to some of our biggest stars seems to have affected the way we handle ourselves day to day. The “celebrity way” of social media sharing has almost (in my opinion) clouded our judgement. In some way, celebrities are afforded the opportunity to live “by their own terms”. They are a very small percentage of the world, and tweeting a reckless comment or picture, MAY result in more press/exposure for them. Not so much the same for us as day to day individuals, and we need to remember that. There’s a certain privilege available to celebrity that isn’t as forgiving for us. We are not Rihanna, but we’re also not Chris Brown, Posh Spice, Kim Kardashian, or Ochocinco. I’d even argue that although we enjoy the entertainment of their tweets, personal brands are STILL being formed and we all base impressions on action.

So with that, I ask again…

If you knew that the biggest opportunity of your lifetime was following your twitter feed or googling your online activity, would you still “tweet” like that?

Wishing you all the best. Don’t Stop going after what you want in life. And always remember,

#keepgoing.

Jj

Note: I am a big Rihanna fan, and in case you’re reading this RiRi, I’m simply using your name in the title of this blog to illustrate my point on personal branding. No offense intended. Please don’t stop the music.

*The above blog is a full adaptation of a series of tweets tweeted by Jesse Jones on Friday, March 30th via www.twitter.com/iamjessejones @iamjessejones