Everyone is a Media Channel

We all broadcast our lives to the internet. We all do it to varying degrees but everyone does it. Our lives are sent out to the world with tweets, blogs, facebook posts, youtube videos and the list goes on and on. At this point privacy is dead. I don’t know if we should blame Paris Hilton or the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. This new openness is wonderful in some ways but confusing in others. It’s wonderful to connect and share information and videos but at what point does personal branding cross the line and become corporate? When do we fall into the same corporate traps of trying to stay on message. When personal anecdotes sound more like talking points you memorize for interviews; it may be time to give your head a good shaking. Warhol’s prediction that we would all be famous for 15 minutes has come true but in a warped way. 15 minutes has become 1 to 15 seconds. This pseudo fame has been transformed into an online whisper that others can choose to listen to or they can tune out in an instant. The biggest issue with online pseudo fame is that most young people don’t understand the difference between their real life and their online life. We have become our own online avatars. My current marketing bible ‘Six Pixels of Separation’ by Mitch Joel simples tells us that ‘You are Media’. You provide the content for the internet, you are the media. I’ve avoided a Youtube channel for sometime because I didn’t want to have people go to Youtube and not visit my webpage but at the same time I’ve been uploading things to a youtube channel that has no name or direct connection to me. Mr. Marketing, Mitch Joel, tells us to ‘Embrace your digital footprint’. Over the next few months I will make an effort to embrace my digital footprint and take ownership of all my digital channels. There is no privacy in Personal Branding. You are transparent and there is no where to hide. I’ve stop hiding but I’m not as transparent as I should be. Channel after channel of online content must connect back and forth to all other channels. These online channels loop back and forth, allowing people to follow the trail in any direction they choose. Broadcasting your life over the internet and trying to retain some privacy can be a bit like walking a tight rope. At this point I give up my privacy. I surrender. I’m not going to start posting my PIN Numbers and passwords just yet but I now accept the simple truth that Everyone is a media channel.