1. Inventing an Online Persona: How to balance authenticity and your online brand Berlin, Germany | 18 May 2011

2. The plural of anecdote is not data.

3. Everyone struggles with this. Even Barack Obama can’t entirely define himself.

5. www.FightTheSmears.com

6. Why brand? What’s the goal?

7. #1: Do what you love.

8. So what do you love?Who do you want to be?

9. Which of these four are you? Gary :: Commerce Julia :: Career Sarah :: Politics Charlie :: Fame?

10. It’s Your DNA

11. 10 Rules for Online Personal Branding Plus: Some random thoughts and questions.

12. Rule #1:: Be Yourself Who are you now? Who does Google think you are? What’s your privacy threshold?

13. Rule #2:: (But Be Authentic) Cluetrain Manifesto (1999) #1: “Markets are conversations” Don’t pretend. Be consistent.

14. Rule #3:: Be Engaged Use everything. Don’t worry about the tools. Be agnostic. Talk back. Write anywhere. Be easy to reach.

15. Rule #4:: (But Be Wary) Miranda rules apply. The internet lives forever. Clean up where you can.

16. Rule #5:: Be the Expert Don’t be a commodity. Why you? What’s your lede? Pick your niche. Play as if you’re a big dog. You don’t need any mainstream attention.

17. Rule #6:: (But Be Insurgent) Build before you need it. Build as if you’ll win. Be aggressive. Frontrunners lose. Incumbents blow transitions. Don’t be one.

18. Rule #7:: Be Definable Or others will do it for you. Metanarratives kill. Be consistent—online and offline. “About the time that you are writing a line you have written so often that you want to throw up, that is the time the American people will hear it.” —Richard Nixon

19. Rule #8:: (But Pace Yourself) 12 hours, 12 minutes responding to email 4 hours, 24 minutes sleeping 3 hours, 1 minute taking meetings 2 hours, 29 minutes commuting 1 hour, 14 minutes connecting to fans via Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Pownce, YouTube, Viddler, and winelibrarytv.com forums 25 minutes reading blogs 24 minutes eating 22 minutes producing vlog Source: Wired.com

20. Rule #9:: Be Human Cluetrain #3: “Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.” Cluetrain #4: “Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived.”

21. Rule #10 :: (But Be Patient & Have Fun) Garrettgraff.com ggraff@washingtonian.com @vermontgmg + 1 (202) 862-3503