Continuing with verse 2 of yesterday’s Twitter riff…

Twitter has become my personal blog/link sharing system/babble stream/socialization tool. It really IS my second blog. I still have my old semi-personal blog lying around but lately I’ve only been using it for emergencies like when my hosting company lets me down.

Broadcasting Brain isn’t a personal blog, not by a long shot. It’s my flagship, my fortress, my embassy, and my broadcasting station.

Twitter, on the other hand, is…

Where else would I get into fun exchanges with the likes of Geoff Livingston or Loren Feldman?

And/or babbling on like this? (I don’t know if these will come through properly in an RSS reader or not):

twitter chatter 1

Yeah, I don’t think that a lot of stuff would fit here, although it is missing a lot of the context so some of it might be hard to follow. But the tone is definitely different.

I think that the Tweet that I circled in the image below basically describes me on Twitter (sorry, but you might have to click on it in order to be able to read it properly):

twitter-2

Here’s the thing (and this might be a take-away for you if you’re still trying to get used to Twitter or haven’t tried it before):

You can change your tone, your speech patterns, and even your mood (a bit) and get away with it on Twitter as long as your core personality, beliefs, and standards don’t change too much from what you portray elsewhere.

For example, if I was an abusive ass on Twitter, I’d either lose a bunch of my followers there or else I’d start attracting some people that I really wouldn’t be compatible with. Plus I’d lose some of my Broadcasting Brain audience as well, especially the ones who also followed me on Twitter. The loss of trust and respect greatly outweighs any psychological satisfaction that comes from character assassination (despite the mercifully few temptations to do so).

  • Your actions define you.
  • You are you wherever you are.
  • Somebody always knows.
  • And blogging under your real name heightens the pre-existing need to be responsible and authentic.

I blogged about personal branding the other day, as many other people did recently. The best way to establish a personal brand is to behave like a thoughtful, respectful human being. Anything good that’s above and beyond that is just a minor differentiator.

So, even though my writing on Twitter is different than my writing here, as long as I don’t deviate too much from the persona that you’ve come to know here at Broadcasting Brain, things are fine.

Remember the Golden Rule, regardless of your religious or philosophical leanings.

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How about YOU? Do you feel or act like a different person on Twitter than on your blog, other social media outlets, or off-line?

UPDATE Dec. 17/08 - I have written a very comprehensive post on Twitter followers that you might want to check out.

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