Old dog, new tricks
Sep 7th, 2008 by Kris
The growth of ambient intimacy can seem like modern narcissism taken to a new, supermetabolic extreme — the ultimate expression of a generation of celebrity-addled youths who believe their every utterance is fascinating and ought to be shared with the world.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/magazine/07awareness-t.html?_r=1&ei=5070&oref=slogin
And there sums up my job.
The more reading and researching I do on my job’s role in the new web 2.0 world, the more I realize I’m going have to at least fake being a self-important douche. I can no longer say “Twitter? One liners for people who can’t rub two brain cells together to write a blog entry? No Thanks.”
I’ve had to join that and a bajillion other social networking sites for work. Looking at job descriptions for Community Managers at other companies, they flat out say you have to be “incredibly plugged into to the Internet and technology, a student of Web 2.0 (blogging, social bookmarking, twitter, etc. are all things you are intimately familiar with and use)” or the less douchey-version “Solid track record of participating in online communities”. And how many throw “evangelist/evangelize” into things willy nilly. People from one social media site join other social media sites to recruit people for their social media site and it’s one big self sustaining circle jerk.
But they pay me and I can stay home with the kids so, count me in!
And I do like my job and helping people. I’m never going to be a brillaint mind. But I’m good with people and actually enjoy taking care of people’s needs. (Just call me Mom.)
I have to use the same username across all of these things so I’m easily accessible and I had picked “forummom” but I hated it. It esp wouldn’t work if I leave Crowdgather eventually and go to work for some blog company or whatnot.
I spent a lot of yesterday trying to come up with something and damn near every screen name out there is taken a few times over. I finally left the computer to do the dishes and thought “Eclectic Kris. My life is pretty mishmash. Awesome! It’s settled.” Get back to the computer and SON OF A BITCH it’s taken! Are you fucking kidding me? Kris Eclectic, also taken. And by another homeschooler to boot.
So in the same vein of how “kristchan” came to be (krischan was already taken) I’ve added the T. I am now kristeclectic. And I’m feeling like a fake and a sell out to a narcissistic world that I don’t like.
kristeclectic at gmail dot com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kristeclectic
http://twitter.com/kristeclectic
http://digg.com/users/kristeclectic
http://delicious.com/kristeclectic
http://www.youtube.com/user/kristeclectic
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristeclectic/
http://kristeclectic.livejournal.com/
http://kristeclectic.stumbleupon.com/
http://www.ditto.net/Members/kristeclectic
http://www.last.fm/user/kristeclectic
I know I’m missing a few. 
I’ll pick up the domain soon.
My boss noticed my change in user name and asked me “Did you do some thinking about your personal brand?” I didn’t know what that meant so she linked me to a talk she had given on it. And yup, that’s what I had been thinking about all day.
I had no idea it had a name and was a strategy that people do on purpose. My other online persona evolved organically, over a +6 year timeline, out of necessity. I didn’t stop and ponder what would people think of me.
There’s a blending of personal and professional with “your personal brand”. I really wish all of the people I have to have my social media nonsense professionally would quit “tweeting” their personal politics.
I need to write up a bio as part of my ‘personal brand’. Maybe it’s my jewish guilt, but my bio would be like:
“Kris fooled some people into hiring her. She’s a big fake and sucks at her job and she hopes they don’t find out until her student loans are paid off.”
But honesty doesn’t win you any points in PR. I need someone else to write it for me. One should not start a personal brand right before high holy days.
This new world is scary. I’m not sure I’m smart enough, young enough, or have enough Care for it. I’m a minimalist. I don’t like technology. I didn’t get a DVD player until 3 years ago, and only because my VCR finally died. I was a child of grunge and apathy. We didn’t evangelize.
My personal brand needs to hit the gym more.
