Maureen's Manifesto
So, I'm online constantly. I have pages on Facebook, MySpace (technically...), Twitter. LJ, obviously. And I've seen the articles that push-push-push you to brand-brand-brand yourself NOW because tomorrow, well, that's too late and you'll be run over by a gang of newbies who came out of the womb branded and no one will ever know who you are. You have to put yourself in people's faces and make sure your message is CLEAR and RETWEETABLE and don't ever, ever let them forget it, even if this means saying the same thing on twitter or facebook 3686 times a day.
To say the least, it gets exhausting. Not just for the person attempting to do it all, but for everyone who has to read it, too.
Well, for anyone who has ever thought all that branding talk is just a wee bit, um, crazy, Maureen Johnson has posted a manifesto, and it goes like this:
The internet is made of people. People matter. This includes you. Stop trying to sell everything about yourself to everyone. Don’t just hammer away and repeat and talk at people-talk TO people. It’s organic. Make stuff for the internet that matters to you, even if it seems stupid. Do it because it’s good and feels important. Put up more cat pictures. Make more songs. Show your doodles. Give things away and take things that are free. Look at what other people are doing, not to compete, imitate, or compare . . . but because you enjoy looking at the things other people make. Don’t shove yourself into that tiny, airless box called a brand-tiny, airless boxes are for trinkets and dead people.
All I can add to that is this: what Maureen said. ;-)
Go read the whole post, cause she makes a lot of sense.
To say the least, it gets exhausting. Not just for the person attempting to do it all, but for everyone who has to read it, too.
Well, for anyone who has ever thought all that branding talk is just a wee bit, um, crazy, Maureen Johnson has posted a manifesto, and it goes like this:
The internet is made of people. People matter. This includes you. Stop trying to sell everything about yourself to everyone. Don’t just hammer away and repeat and talk at people-talk TO people. It’s organic. Make stuff for the internet that matters to you, even if it seems stupid. Do it because it’s good and feels important. Put up more cat pictures. Make more songs. Show your doodles. Give things away and take things that are free. Look at what other people are doing, not to compete, imitate, or compare . . . but because you enjoy looking at the things other people make. Don’t shove yourself into that tiny, airless box called a brand-tiny, airless boxes are for trinkets and dead people.
All I can add to that is this: what Maureen said. ;-)
Go read the whole post, cause she makes a lot of sense.