I can remember googling my name in the past and getting the same results as I did for this audit. These results consisted mainly of information and pictures of Warren Spahn- one of the greatest baseball pitchers of all time. Also a blogger from Portland, Oregon appears occasionally. Now this can be a good thing and a bad thing. From this audit’s point of view and a  practical standpoint it is probably a negative aspect. It is hard for other people to find me online which could very well translate to the business world and potential employers as well. This is because I do not have a Twitter account nor a LinkedIn Profile. The fact that I am related to Warren Spahn also affects this. The pros consist of me being able to be very unfiltered on social media. I am always private and only accept certain people to be friends or followers which allows for a truer representation of self than most people can portray on social media.

Most other people searching for my name on social media or google would probably be somewhat stumped as to my existence. On Instagram’s search bar someone could find my name if they knew who they were looking for exactly. Same goes for Facebook. But on other sites such as Snapchat, Bleacher Report, and Google + this is not the case. I keep these accounts under various usernames to prevent others from seeing my thoughts on these personal forms of social media. If I cared for others to see or hear all of my thoughts I would just tell them directly. I personally do not see the point in allowing anyone with unrestricted access to view your own social media accounts and posts without your knowing. As far as employers go, I will be creating a LinkedIn profile as well as some other future social media accounts to brand myself to the business world. At this point in time I do not feel the need to do this. I would say my lack of social media existence when searching my name is very representative of my social media brand. I am relatively disengaged from this realm, but for those who search hard enough and are close enough to me, I allow them to interact with my social media accounts.  There are no real changes that I wish to implement into my social media accounts except the introduction of a LinkedIn profile and potentially more diversity in my Instagram postings.

I do believe that everyone has a “personal brand” in terms social media, but it is not as important or accurate as the authors of these articles makes it seem to be. First of all, anyone can say whatever they want about themselves or others on social media, and the only thing we have as consumers to judge the truthfulness of said social media, is based upon our own knowledge or the  popularity of the account or post. This leaves a large amount of uncertainty when it comes to dependability in social media. A smart social media user will be very cautious when viewing the content produced for social media because they never know what they can and cannot believe. For me, my “personal brand” is one of a male college student who likes to be adventurous and have fun, but doesn’t care to electronically let others know about my experiences. This brand is very vague and can be applied to thousands of other people. This is another reason why I disagree with the importance of working on your “personal brand”; because each brand is not unique. The large emphasis on a personal brand that is so doctored and general seems to be counter-intuitive to the overall goal of social media itself; express ones self and connect with others online for various reasons.  The whole idea is not weird, but rather very exaggerated on importance.