Twitter lists and identity

13th November 2009

The idea that our brands are the sum total of the perceptions of others who experience us has never been more relevant. Twitter lists are a significant step towards the social integration of our identities into the wider ecosystem.

If you really want to know what marketing in 2010 might be about, this is a pretty good place to look.

And thanks to everyone who’s put me on their list.

My Twitter Listed Pic cropped

  • http://futurechat.in/ Syamant

    So in a sense, the many facets of a personality, capability and interests ?
    The challenge though is that over a period of time, capability and interests evolve. It would be interesting to see how this gets reflected and how one draws a balance.

    Would like your thoughts. Thanks!

  • Anne

    Thanks for the comment, to answer your question, my thoughts are that identity is to some degree evolutionary, heritage and provenance create a spark and an initial starting point that's the origin but identity is also a mixture of what's fixed and what's flexible. Essentially I see it as story and a script that reflects connections of interest and experience.

    In that sense it presents a compelling narrative, and all the strongest identities have this. The advantage of social media is that the narrative is written collaboratively, with less margin for error and more options for growth and development.

  • socialtechno

    Be careful of that phrase “the sum total of the perceptions of others”. It's quantitative language , very popular with old skool marketeers. But what we get when we add relationships together, or perceptions, is more of a qualitative change, like adding an extra horn to the brass section, or a colour to the palette or a herb to the stock. We have interesting work ahead of us discovering how social phenomena interact when we try to combine them.

  • http://futurechat.in/ Syamant

    Agreed.

    Some people don

  • Anne

    It's hard to say, self-expression does tend to encourage validation more than introversion though, it's hard to like what you don't know, I would think the old chestnut about hiding a light under a bushel applies.

  • Anne

    Good point; how about a gathering of perceptions? I agree with you about the work ahead.