don_draper, TweetJeebus, and Staying in Character

Don Draper is one of the characters on the show Mad Men, which in a short span from its first airing, has managed to gain quite the following. Watch this video of Draper's Kodak moment with the Carousel, and you will be touched.

Despite the man not being a saint, if you do a quick search on Twitter, you will find that don_draper is popular there. The creation of Paul Isakson, who was passionate about bringing the character to life, Draper has now been taken over by someone who understands him. I'm intrigued, aren't you?

You may not know TweetJeebus as well as you do Draper. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Dwight Silverman writes: "Whoever TweetJeebus really is, he's got the routine nailed. Even within Twitter's 140-character limitation, he's both wise and funny at the same time -- just what you'd expect if the Son of God signed up for a little Web-based social networking."

Whoever the writer is, I think you can agree, he's quite a character - and he's brought to life quite an old story.

We love stories, and we end up identifying with the characters in those stories.

If you know any actors or have done any acting, you will know that the most difficult part of acting is that of staying in character. In my rudimentary acting experience (a small play in middle school), I learned that it was important to listen to the other actors as if they were speaking for the first time. Doing that would help me internalize the conversation as if I were thinking - and believing - my lines, and respond appropriately.

Personal and professional lives continue to collide - in the new reality of work, and in social media. David Armano wrote a brilliant post about the battle of the brands a couple of months back. With those lines blurring, building and managing online reputations is becoming increasingly important. Part of that means you stay in character.

Staying in character with social media:

• be true to yourself - your beliefs and your values
• do what you say you will do - some call this integrity
• listen while you interact - internalize the interaction as it's going to be part of your story
• let your work speak for you - this also takes care of the balance between promotion of self and that of your business
• invest time, energy, and attention in building the right kind of story

Some of this may seem common sense. It's probably useful to repeat it so we can use it as a reference point. What we're experiencing is a new Renaissance of human thought. The tools are secondary.

What's next:

Honestly this is a question I get a lot - how do you keep personal and professional separate? Entrepreneurs know the drill pretty well - they are their own sales force, marketing group, brand, as well as the delivery team. However, up until recent years, they were all those things depending on the situation. That made it easier to stay in character.

Many companies have written solid policies and guides to social media participation. I do think however, that we're just scratching the surface on the issue. As more employees participate, there will be a need for more conversations about what staying in character means. Including considerations on brand equity, questions around what happens if the person leaves the company, culture, relationships and more.

How do you go about revealing yourself to others? Is your personal brand stronger than your company's brand? Which one should take the lead? How do you handle disclaimers and warranties if you mix the two?

[image by Rick Harris]

Comments

[Ricardo Bueno]

That's a lot of tough questions to answer! Should make for interesting conversation in the comments...

Personally, with respect to the question about how personal can you (should you) get? If it's not dining room table talk, then it probably shouldn't be said. Once it's been said, it's on Google forever! So keep that in mind too... Just my personal opinion.

[Stuart Foster]

I do advocate the integration of personal and professional for how you present yourself. It's a part of who I am and I can't carry the same amount of passion if I water myself down to much.

It might be a Gen-Y thing...

[Robert Wheatley]

I was touched in similar fashion by the same scene in Mad Men, more as an exploration of the leaps creative brains can take in re-thinking a product or brand beyond the obvious to something quite remarkable and powerful. Blogged about it here: http://www.wheatleytimmons.com/blog/enormous-power-in-persepctive

Bob

[Teresa Basich]

For me (as you've seen) the personal and professional can't really separate out. That might be because of the stage I'm in, in my life (job searching, career exploration), but I believe it's just part of who I am.

Since I'm not representing any particular company yet, I hope to land a gig in which I'm not asked to change my tack much at all, just add company content and activities to the roster of my own social interactions. Of course, I expect to be held accountable for the things I say, but I hope I connect with an organization that likes what it sees already and just asks me to keep at it.

Hope springs eternal. :)

[BigLittleWolf]

You ask thoughtful questions that we'll be figuring out with time, particularly as all the "old school rules" of communication grow muddled, or just don't apply.

But human nature and the reasons for communication DO still apply. I believe the answers to some of your questions will vary (like any other communication) with industry, the individual's role or position of advocacy in an organization, geographic region, appropriateness and relevance of what is said - and who you're talking to.

Just like "real life," we modify language, tone and subject matter according to purpose and audience, in personal and professional situations. We simply need to remember - as you say - that anything shot out into cyberspace is not only there for ever, but repeatable - with no control over the context.

This is one reason that certain of us (including myself) choose some amount of separation of church & state, ie separate "personal" blogging/twittering personas - so we may exercise greater freedom in what we say and the audience with whom we interact.

It's not easy to maintain that separation; the "self" is truly a merging of personal and professional, but it's possible.

My concern, as we all take to PDAs and keyboards with increasing ease - how much time that we're talking and typing could be better spent establishing face-to-face relationships? With customers, among teens, in the social arena, with neighbors. Or spent reading,or building something, or TRULY listening.

Ultimately, are we all just branding ourselves in place of Warhol's 15 minutes of fame?

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Ricardo - the dining room table conversation, I like that! Except for it's harder to figure that out because online you have context and the possibility for things to be taken out of it. It takes training and skill to have that kind of situational awareness.

@Stuart - I'm thinking that it's more a cultural thing for organizations. That's why "fit" is probably one of the most important things to check when joining a company.

@Robert - I'm jealous, you found a way to embed the video clip. I would have loved to have seen you develop the post a little more - get into the emotional communication that comes after surprise.

@Teresa - we're social creatures, and we let the environment we spend time in shape us a little, or at least influence our behavior - we want to fit in. That's why the social media fishbowl has a certain kind of person in it, the corporate world another. When we lead a group, a project, we have the opportunity to help set that tone.

@BigLittleWolf - situational works. The environment gives us clues as to one behaves in such a place, we watch others. I think it's very possible to make clarity as to who we represent with our actions and words. However, it's interesting to observe that the lines are not hard just for individuals - they are difficult to navigate for organizations as well. You're spot on about face-to-face relationships. We crave them as well. Hence the tweet-ups with people met online and the explosion of conferences on social media. We attend so we can meet those we "friend" online to continue the conversation. We'll save the discussion on branding ourselves for another post.