Online you can be anyone you want to be. Not that you should, but you can.

While we would never, ever recommend our clients create even a slightly fictitious persona, some people can and do make things up every day in real life and online.

Over the weekend, I watched a rerun of this Saturday Night Live skit with Christopher Walken and Tim Meadows. Called “The Census Taker,” Walken answers questions about his life like . . . number of people in his apartment: 80; hours worked: part-time, part of the day from 9-5; citizenship: US with a passport to Florida; wife: a bobcat. Here’s the video from Hulu.com.

Many times when I present to live audiences, I’m asked: how do you recommend setting personal boundaries on social networking sites? The top concerns? Revealing too much, looking foolish and being out of character with their image and their brand.

Every now and then I unintentionally cross a social networking boundary I’ve set.

Like when I mention something more than I’d like people to know about my family and my life. Or, I say something that gets taken out of context because I didn’t have enough characters to set it up properly. Sometimes I hesitate and withhold useful information.

How do you make decisions on what to share on social media sites like twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn?

Social Networking Personality Checklist

Since 1996, I’ve been interacting with people online. Ten years later, I launched this blog and started shaping an online personality. Mine is a continual work in progress: you learn-you change-you evolve. In thinking about what goes into a social media personality, I came up with this preliminary guide to help new people starting out.

Set Personal Information Boundaries Online

How much do you want to share online? Keep in mind that age, address and phone may be in public records anyway.

Do you want to connect with family members, both close and extended? How far back do you want to go with friends, classmates and employers?

Revealing Lifestyle Preferences Online

Eating is usually a safe zone and can be a good way to invite interaction. While we don’t suggest posting every single meal online, a photo of a yummy dessert is always good, especially around lunchtime.

Are you an insomniac who rolls out of bed late or the one who gets up at 5am? People will be able to tell by the date stamp on your updates.

Drinking is a sensitive topic both in terms of mentions and updating under the influence. For some, mentioning vintages and beverages is acceptable, for others it’s always off limits.

Promoting Companies and Brands: Intentionally or Unintentionally

Every time you mention company or a brand in social media, it can be seen as an endorsement, review or a call for customer service. If you’re trying to get a brand’s attention, mention them often.

Quoting People in Social Media Updates

Be sure you quote someone accurately and in context – not sure? Then don’t quote them or better yet, ask for their permission first.

Referencing Employer Connections

Drop an employer’s name and it shows up in searches. People may attach your opinion to the company.

Signing up for Events

Going somewhere? You’re telling people where to find you, which can be a good thing if you want to meet up with friends.

Measuring: IRL BFFs or Digital-Only Friends?

In real life best friends forever may or may not be digital friends. My worlds are starting to merge as friends from both sides start to meet each other online and at events.

Knowing When It Is TMI

TMI, or too much information, happens when people find out more than they want to know. What’s on your TMI list?

What kind of animal are you?

Odd question isn’t it? But, one that’s fun to answer.

Image credit: Lynx in a living room by Barbara Rozgonyi copyright 2007 for www.thesociallens.com. Yes, I was there. Yes, this was one of three cats in a living room. Yes, it was exotic. Yes, it was amazing. Yes, it was in California.

Okay, I’ll admit up front that this might sound a bit self serving, and it is because it’s about me. But, I’m only showing you what can happen so that you can see where you might be in 10 months if you start a social media optimization plan today.

I didn’t even know I was tracking results until yesterday when I opened a file marked “to do” that I wrote back in May 2008. It contained a pretty good social media optimization plan that I forgot I wrote. Of course I didn’t follow it. It was in the teaching file as an example for my some day students. What I found was where I ranked on that day about ten months ago. For proof, check out this image that shows the file properties and the original search engine results numbers.

So, I decided to see how my current stats compared. As you can see, I’ve gained a lot in some search engines thanks to twitter, this blog, LinkedIn and Facebook. A qualifier: higher numbers look so impressive, but can be collapsed into a much smaller number based on similar results. Still, it’s good to know that I can share a personal social media optimization success story with you and my soon-to-be students. Do you want to be one of them?

Next step: start working on top social bookmarking sites strategies.

On March 6 and 7, I attended Alex Mandossian’s Teleseminar Secrets Reunion  – check out my album on flickr. I didn’t tweet much or live blog at all. Why? Alex is a fantastic speaker and one who deserves complete attention. So, I went back to taking notes the old-fashioned way: in a spiral notebook. It’s more liberating and I got much more out of the content.

Phenomenal is the only word that describes the networking.

Want to follow the Teleseminar Secrets folks on twitter? Check out Mari Smith’s TSS reunion twitter directory and Pat and Lorna’s spectacular list of Teleseminarians on twitter and their websites.

Teleseminar Secrets Reunion 2009 Review

Here’s what I liked most about the day and a half program and what I’d like to suggest you test at your events.

• Limit attendance to 150 for a group that is intimate, yet big enough to explore.
• Give people a networking guide. In this case, who are you, why are you here and who is your best prospect. This way, everyone’s sorting for the same information.
• Set expectations and go over the rules of the game up front. Alex set the tone by requesting that everyone listen to an audio guide before we got to the conference. I downloaded the file and started to listen to it on my flight. It starts out with some high-energy, groovy music. So, I turned it up. About three seconds later, the flight attendant came by and said “You’re not plugged in.” Oops . . . while the incident did make the people around me laugh, it was embarrassing. Never say I don’t know how to get attention.
• “Pack My Bag” moments – Alex tested this out for the first time. Here’s how it works: anytime you feel like you’ve gotten enough value and you could go home, it’s a pack my bag moment. You stand up, say “I’m packing my bags.” and tell the group your moment.
• Chart out your life’s defining events – what was your life like at the time: lousy, ho-hum or great? Alex went back 20 years. Why not chart out your life over the next 20 years and see what you’d like to accomplish?
• Reach higher achievement by following 12 principles that make good entrepreneurs great. The top 3 for me:

1. Focus on improving, not just inventing.
2. Focus on relationships, not just transactions.
3. Focus on a positive no thanks, not just a yes.

Were you at the Teleseminar Secrets Reunion? What was your biggest takeaway?

Now we’re getting somewhere. Momentum is building in Chicago around all things social media. As a founding member of the second city’s Social Media Club, I’m thrilled to see people packing rooms to learn, network and advance social media for themselves, their companies and the community at large. Check out Social Media Club Chicago’s Facebook group.

One of the highlights for most of us is the speaker. January was a blockbuster draw. David Armano brought his Brand U.0 presentation to our group. In December Jason Falls talked about the future of social media and then recapped it for us on his blog, Social Media Explorer.

I love how YouTube framed David in front of this quote:

“A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service or organization.”
* The Brand Gap, by Marty Neumeier (book and SlideShare) Source for links: Substance

To paraphrase:

Branding is not a product or a service it is a connection with an emotion. 

That’s easy enough for people to get.

One of our favorite consulting questions is: What brands best represent who you are and why? Diet Coke drinkers – in every crowd – swear unwavering loyalty to their brand, going so far as to say they never drink Diet Pepsi if there is no Diet Coke on hand. What brands do you identify with?

Seeing yourself in other brands and looking for common qualities is one step in the quest to build something that lots of people are uncomfortable with: Brand U.0, as David calls the personal brand phenomenon. He suggests people pack two business cards: one company brand and one personal brand.

But, it’s not all about graphics, although I do suggest you click through David’s slide show for a graphic depiction of how social media works. It is, as we all profess to know all about relationships and communication.

No sales – at all. When someone asked if they could promote sales on twitter, the room roared and grumbled. I can see their point, although I quibble with it a bit. As a former sales trainer, I believe there is a way to transition from selling to serving.

How do you incorporate or separate business and personal branding?

 

Brand “U.0″

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