color me

I did one day of writing about other topics and here I am, back to me. Not me me, but social media me. Someone pointed out yesterday that while I'm working SO HARD to build a presence on line, I'm continually shooting myself in my cyber foot. How can I have a website that's all about me, without a picture of me on it? He didn't buy that there is a photo, but that you have to go looking.

We were talking this morning—this same person who's getting very comfortable at pointing out my foibles—about the struggle, the balance, the comfort level of owning who you are and what you do without being a bloviator. First of all, I LOVE that word. And secondly, since this is about me, we were talking about owning who I am and what I do. About how I put things out there, but manage to mask my message. Truly, it's almost funny when I take a step back and look at it all from someone else's perspective. For example: my website. It's exceedingly fun and pretty, but you have no idea who I am when looking at it. It's all over the place, and it's pretty damn self-deprecating. The page about projects I haven't sold is far more enticing than all the projects I've actually put out into the world.

He pointed out that the black and white photo I was using made me seem less important than all the vibrant colors I use all over the page.

We talked about all the people on twitter, and beyond, who have powerful presences, but when you scratch the surface, what's there? So much of social media is just talk. Theory. Snake oil. Good design and a big ego.

My ego needs to be stoked. Or at least my cyber ego has to stop saying in this very small way: pay attention to me. I'm nice. And funny. And I have lovely manners. Cyber me has to say: I KNOW HOW TO GET IT DONE. I PUT COOL THINGS OUT INTO THE UNIVERSE. I AM CREATIVE AND BOLD AND START CONVERSATIONS THAT WE NEED TO HAVE. AND I HAVE VERY GOOD MANNERS. That last one is worth repeating.

Tomorrow my new website debuts. It's all about ME. In color.

A quick note—Izzy saw the new design and laughed out loud. And that's my reality check.