Who's the biggest Brand You?

I don't know if it's Yellow Volkswagen Syndrome or what, but lately, every damned thing I read seems to be either about personal branding or social media (or personal branding via social media.)

Wired.com has jumped into the personal brand-mania pool this week with a poll; they're having readers decide who the most effective self-promoter (i.e., personal brand-er) is.

I have mixed feelings about the list. Maybe it's the Groucho effect; maybe I'm taking it all too seriously. Wouldn't be the first time. Surely there's no big deal about throwing up a silly little poll for fun.

I guess that's it: it doesn't seem like everyone is having fun. A few of the entries are genuinely thought-provoking. Was Jesus the world's best, all-time self-promoter? A rather strong case could be made. Or an equally strong case that our man from Jerusalem was just doing his thing for the sake of the doing, and that people around him leveraged him as a brand.

P.T. Barnum is a good bet—why isn't he higher up? I mean, I love Tim Ferriss as much as the next nerd (hey! I voted for him!), but is he going to have the enduring power of an Edison or even a Muhammed Ali, both extremely savvy self-promoters? And I really don't know—I'm just sayin'.

Or maybe I'm asking. What do you think? Would love for you to bop over to the list, come back and let us know what you think. (Voting optional!)

Comments

[Randall Shelton]

The Jesus question - It's most probly the latter.He did his "thing- just according to his blueprint" and those guys who hung around him did their thing - the primary dude being Judas. If he hadn't; the story might have been -a non story.
If you think about it - we are also impressing others everytime we open our mouth or even give with a facial expression. (your pic, kiddo, tells us mucho)

[Colleen Wainwright]

I'd agree on the Jesus thing. Dude seemed more like he was about just doing his thing.

And yeah, the picture. In my defense, Peleg picked out that photo for my avatar. But I did pose for it, thereby making it available and...

Oh, who'm I kidding? Ham. Bone.