We are All our Own Image Consultants

When I first joined Twitter, I was struck by the glamorous lives that Twitter users lived.

I initially followed some bloggers and Twitter developers. My home page was a never-ending stream of tweets about flying to one city or another, going to this or that tweetup, having drinks with fellow tweeps after a conference or event. Interspersed were various witticisms or clever repartee between tweeps. 

I actually remarked to my father that it left me feeling kind of depressed and dull. I’m a working mother of four children. They are all still young enough that they don’t have their own lives. Hence I don’t have my own life. And while I have my moments, I’m not always in a witty frame of mind. Frankly, I’m often in a rushed, stressed, fragmented state of mind.

After attending some social media events recently and pondering some of the things that were said, I think I finally get it. We’ve become our own online image consultants, and some people are just better at it than others.

Let me explain.

The other week, I attended three social media events in a row. On Thursday, I gave my own talk, “A Basic Introduction to Social Media.” The next day, I attended the Eastside Entrepreneurs Social Media 101 event (organized by Joe Kennedy). And the day after that, I went to the first Seattle WordCamp, which had plenty of sessions on social media, as well as WordPress.

They were all great events, and I got lots of good tidbits at both 101 and WordCamp. Eric Weaver’s talk at 101 was the most interesting to me. It was aimed at jobseekers and those hiring them. He spoke well, was entertaining, and made a lot of valuable points. Though I found some of them disturbing.

For example, he’s the second “expert” I’ve heard say that younger people who are hiring are looking to hire people like themselves, someone they connect with, someone who will fit into the company culture. Whenever I hear that, I think of the hours of diversity training I’ve had to sit through, and how that would go over with the diversity departments. If this is the direction hiring is going, will we end up with companies siloed by culture: the Asian culture company, the Indian culture company, the Young-White-Guy culture company?

Between Eric and the other speakers, I heard the following points (all of which I’ve heard or read before):

• Younger people who grew up with social media are now the gatekeepers when it comes to hiring. They are the HR people who phone screen candidates, for instance.
  
• You have to be out there and visible. Those hiring look for you on social networks. If they can’t find you—on the personal sites, not just LinkedIn—or your profiles are closed, young people think you’re trying to hide something.
  
• On the web, be honest. It’s easy to catch people in lies on the internet.
  
• Show something of yourself. Don’t be afraid to show who you are (such as your interests and even your politics). People want to find a connection, want to see what you’re like.
  
• The corollary of that, which Eric didn’t say explicitly but alluded to, is that people may reject you because they don’t find that connection or are actually put off by something they learn about you.
  
• Everything you say is public, so don’t post something that might come back to bite you: like criticizing an employer, revealing proprietary information, or posting those photos from the kegger last week.
  
• Show yourself to be an expert. Provide original insights. Show your brain power and what you have to offer that’s unique.
  
• Don’t be too negative. Nobody wants to follow or engage with a grump. If you’re too negative online, you won’t be well regarded.
  
• Be careful what you say, everywhere. Remember that you may be mentioned in other people’s posts and that your comments on other people’s profiles may also appear in searches.
  

Do you see the problem? You need to be visible, for certain. And you’re supposed to be honest and authentic and show the real you—but don’t say or do anything that might reflect badly on you or make you look like a grump. And keep in mind that the same tidbits that personalize you and may attract some people may also repel others.

Hence my conclusion: we are now all in the business of image management. We need to manage our own online images, promote ourselves actively, and make sure that what we’re presenting is upbeat, professional, trustworthy, insightful, and unique.  Only you are allowed to represent you, too—so, as much as you might be tempted, you can’t go hire a real image consultant.

It makes me wonder what “authenticity” really means. You hear all this talk about the need to be authentic online. With your career and reputation are at stake, it’s critical to show your best side online. You have a lot more control over your online image than you do in person or even on television. You can take the time to craft your text, decide what you will and won’t say, and pick your blog topics carefully. I think that means we’re going beyond just presenting the best of ourselves. For all the talk of authenticity, those who are saavy and capable are presenting an image, not the real person. Like Hollywood stars, we get to show only what we want to show, in the positive light we want, presenting only the public image we want presented.

Now my first reaction to Twitter makes sense. My fellow tweeps might not be as glamorous as they seem—but some of them are AWFULLY good image consultants.