What about your personal brand and legacy on Steem?

Are you a nice person?

Of course.

Because we all think we are. And just to prove it, the people who know you best would totally agree. Right?

But what about your social media friends and followers? They’re not close friends. They probably barely know you. Or do they?

What’s your personal brand?

Your personal brand? Only celebs and Instagram stars have personal brands, don’t they?

Nope.

If you’re posting content online – of any kind (even Steemit comments), you have one too.

Because your personal brand is how you’re perceived by others. And if you want to grow an audience, as many on Steem do, it’s a pretty big deal. Why? We’re attracted to people we like.

So, how’s your personal brand?

Well, if you’ve not been paying it any attention, it’s probably not the best. And if you’re trolling in the comments…?

Before we continue, this isn’t a post about how you build a personal brand – I’m reminding you that you have one.

But while your personal brand serves you today, and should be built upon for tomorrow, long, long-term, your legacy is way more important.

How will you be remembered?

We all want to make a mark; to be remembered. Your legacy is just that.

Social media has made us the first “on the record” generation. In increasing numbers, we’re recording and sharing our lives – every event, activity and thought we’re inspired to have.

All this personal information sticks around. Even if Facebook, or Twitter disappear, the data they hold (and you gave them) won’t.

Our digital footprints are far more visible than our offline lives.

Previous generations had the luxury, if you look at it that way, of living relatively “under the radar”. So, their legacy was mostly built in the eyes, and hearts of the people who knew them best – and usually passed along verbally.

We’re building our legacies in plain sight, by how we act online.

And on Steem

On a blockchain like Steem; a huge decentralised database, your data is fully accessible, indexed by Google and available to everybody – forever.

There are no privacy settings, and the platform by its nature isn’t censored, so you’re free to say and do as you want. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

Steem is a power for good but should also be treated with caution.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing

We’re quick to give our opinions, often before we know the whole story, or consider both sides.

We don’t have the benefit of hindsight, but future generations will. Our snap-judgements and opinions may one day paint us as a fool.

I was (and still am) a huge Michael Jackson fan. Whilst writing this post, I couldn’t get the chorus of History (released in 1995, pre-social media) out of my head. It sums up my point perfectly.

But surely, we don’t really need to worry about legacy? We, and our data, will be lost in the crowd. It’s called ‘big data’ for a reason. Nobody will ever look through everything we’ve posted.

An overview of your digital footprint

One of the biggest problems (outside of poverty, climate, war, famine, of course!) we face today is information overload.

But technology moves fast, and often surprises us – just look at blockchains.

What if, in the next 5, 10, even 20 years, there’s an AI, or machine learning app to collate, summarise and present our whole digital footprint in a searchable, user-friendly format?

Big data; on, and for everyone.

So, anybody interested in who we are, or were, has easy access.

And you know how, as a society, we just love to rank, and score everything. How will you score, and what will those scores be used for?

Cool?

Well that would depend on how you’ve been behaving, what you’ve said, and how much of an eye to the future you’ve had all these years.

Nobody’s perfect.

We all do, and say stupid things at times, and I believe this will be taken into account. But when you look at the data over long periods, patterns emerge. You build an accurate picture of somebody by looking at their behaviour over any length of time.

What you share, you can’t hide.

So, next time you’re posting to, or commenting on Steem, imagine your son, daughter, or future grandchildren are reading along, learning what you were really like as a person.

Telling my story and building a brand

I’ve followed Gary Vaynerchuk (GaryVee) online for years.

One thing he talks about – a lot, is that we [he’s talking to entrepreneurs, but this might apply to anyone] should be thinking of ourselves as media companies – and documenting our journey.

Well I’m taking his advice.

I joined Steem as M_SSED_T because I want to build a lifestyle brand. I don’t have a set, or limited definition of what M_SSED_T might become, but I want to touch on street fashion, art, product design – hence the broad label, “lifestyle brand”.

Who am I?

I’m a creative.

I don’t live in any one box, I wear many hats – artist, designer, photographer, coder. And I’m on a journey to discover which hat suits me best, where I excel – and to learn, make mistakes and grow.

That’s the journey I want to document – the legacy I want to leave.

I have a five-year old daughter, Elida – and I’m documenting my journey for her. She’ll always be my primary audience. Because I know that whatever I create, or produce, she might consume it one day (Hi Elida, I love you).

I hope to teach her, through my actions, about taking a chance, believing in yourself and being entrepreneurial. Because I want her to be happy, and to have as many options open as possible. I’m giving her insights into who I am, beyond what she’d otherwise see.

And if I do build M_SSED_T into something notable, having documented how I got there will become a lot more interesting, and valuable, to others too.

I’d love your advice

It’d be nice to have you follow along with my journey too – maybe you can learn from my mistakes?

But I’d also love your advice.

How do you think I should document what I’m doing? Written word, video, audio? How should I share my creative process, what I learn, what I’m doing and the challenges I face?

I’ve given these questions a lot of thought, but any ideas you might have would be greatly appreciated.