If there is only one message in all that I teach/coach/mentor, or even think, about branding and brand storytelling, it is the everything counts – everything communicates.

So … you changed your Facebook profile image to rainbow style.

This is what mine would have looked like, had I adopted it. I didn’t, not for any particular reason, just didn’t.

I tend to be suspicious of things like that, hence this article, I think.

It all fascinates me.

But stay with me …

Maybe you wanted to communicate, “I support Gay Pride” or maybe, “I support equality of marriage rights.”

Did it occur to you that maybe you were part of an experiment, or a study; that maybe your behaviour could be part of a study that would provide data on how to create a social movement?

I remember Mark Zuckerberg being quoted as saying he wanted Facebook to be a force for change.

Perhaps he really did … and does.

The concept is awesome, to me, absolutely awesome!

That underneath the frippery of so much of our social interaction, and underneath the striving to stand out as a business and to attract business, and underneath the efforts to communicate a hope for something better in our lives, there is the massive potential for change.

Under the frippery, the business striving, the individual ripples,

there is a giant wave of potential for change.

Did you read the recent article in the Atlantic? It discussed this possibility, citing a published report …

In “The Diffusion of Support in an Online Social Movement,” Bogdan State, a Stanford Ph.D. candidate, and Lada Adamic, a data scientist at Facebook, analyzed the factors that predicted support for marriage equality on Facebook back in March 2013. They looked at what factors contributed to a person changing his or her profile photo to the red equals sign, but the implication of their research is much larger: At stake is our understanding of whether groups of citizens can organize online—and how that collective activity affects larger social movements.

The article is a fascinating read- there’s that word again, fascinating, but it really describes my reaction!!

Were you, in fact, indulging in “slacktivism”?!!

On this, the broader scale, the possibilities inherent in social media just ~~fascinate~~ intrigue me.

The ~~fascination~~ ~~feeling of intrigue~~ interest – began for me, with that suggestion regarding Mark Zuckerberg’s intentions and was heightened when the changes in the Middle East were linked to social media activity, especially on Twitter.

What will happen?

What are we all doing, unconsciously?

What is possible?

What change?

For good … or for bad?

We really are a global community!

What vision is now so much more possible/realistic/achievable?

The Atlantic article concluded with these words

Even seemingly small online actions—clicking the “like” button, changing one’s profile photo—are being tracked and analyzed. Just like McAdam’s research on Freedom Summer shapes our understanding of support for marriage equality, Facebook’s past research on marriage equality has helped answer a question we all face when deciding to act politically: Does the courage to visibly—if virtually—stand up for what a person believes in have an effect on that person’s social network, or is it just cheap, harmless posturing? Perhaps the rainbow colors across Facebook will become part of the answer.

And I return to the smaller scale – you and me – and the original thought — EVERYTHING COMMUNICATES — but now we know it communicates in ways we may never have envisaged.

Who are you?

If someone wants to know who you are, they type your name into Google.

Before the meeting, you have been googled.

Before the interview, you have been googled.

Before the pitch, you have been googled.

What is Google saying about you?

What did you give Google to say about you?

It’s an interesting exercise to Google oneself … interesting and sometimes surprising!!

Right there is a little window into how people might be seeing you.

That is the story people are seeing and reading about you – your personal brand story, your business brand story.

Did Google put it there? No. But Google chose which parts of it to put in front of searchers as the first thing they saw.

Did other people put it there? Yes. Your clients comment on your business and connect with you. Your friends comment on you and connect with you. You listed yourself on other websites, and commented or interacted there.

So to some extent, this is happening without you.

Consider, though …

You gave your clients something to comment on. What was that?

You connected with them. What impression did that give?

You gave your friends something to comment on. What was that?

You connected with them. What impression did that give?

You associated yourself with other websites. What impression does that give?

Everything communicates.

My mother said to me often and often, “Put your words on the palm of your hand before you say them.”

She probably said that as I grew into a teenager with attitude, and not much thought for what I said, or what the consequences might be.

Everything communicates, especially words, but actions too.

So everything we do on the internet communicates something and it’s not always what we might expect.

Google, and the internet as a whole, gives us an unparalleled opportunity to communicate, to share and to build a brand, and there is nothing so challenging, nor so rewarding as to to watch that brand build and grow.

Enjoy!!