Thing 3

Now I know this will look like I've started to procrastinate already (!), but I was on leave last week and have only just got back to work to have a go at Thing 3. Interestingly I didn't think I'd ever really considered how I would be seen as a brand, but realise that I am pretty fussy about what image I portray on those social networks I belong to, so must have been doing this subconsciously. It took me a long time to be happy with how this blog looked for example, but perhaps that's just my very particular aesthetic view of everything presenting itself, rather than a need to portray myself professionally. I haven't got a cohesive, single image linking everything together I've realised, such as the same background image or name across my profiles, so perhaps that's one of the things I could address to strengthen my "brand".

I already have Flickr, Twitter and  Facebook  profiles, and have always been quite particular about how I portray who I am on these, thinking carefully about what I do and don't post in terms of news about, and images of, myself, family and friends. However, I've done this from a personal viewpoint as I've not needed to portray a professional image up until now, but perhaps this blog will prove to be the beginning of a new professionally branded "Me"!

I "Google'd" myself as Angie2501 (which I use a lot as my moniker), and wasn't too concerned by what was presented as me. The hit list contained a lot of my photos from Flickr (which seem to be mainly of the dog at the moment!) and references to my Twitter profile. If I use my full name a more professional me appears with my work contact details etc., but only on the second page of results. This is fine at the moment bearing in mind that my public image is more personal than professional to date.

I'm hopeful that as I am so careful about what I post, the image of who I am and what interests me is appropriate, accurate and in my control. Although it would be interesting to hear what anyone who reads this thinks...