Brandividuals are an important tactic for representing an organization online. Yes, I know, the term “Brandividual” is kind of funky, and maybe even has an annoying buzz, but as a concept it’s here to stay. Why?
Because brandividuals are the most transparent, authentic and ultimately effective way of representing an organization in an online conversation.
Brandividuals (Armano, 2008; Vespi, 2008) are employees who draw on their personal identity as well as the organization’s identity to represent the organization in online relationships. Found on corporate blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and other social media platforms, brandividuals speak on the organization’s behalf, consciously expressing their own personalities, attributes and attitudes while they represent the organization.
Why Bran (d)-(in)dividuals?
Brandividuals meet the implicit demand of social media for communication between one person and another.
Social media platforms demand what I call a ‘first person presence’. That is because social media platforms, from Facebook to Twitter, are designed to be used by individuals, as individuals, to create relationships with other individuals.
This requirement of a ‘first person presence’ is something that most social media users take for granted, but if you’re not a big social media user (hello, management academics!) this requirement of person to person interaction arrives as an insight.
The weirdness of the “third person” in social media
Have you ever talked with a 4-year old going through a particularly self-important phase, where he’ll only refer to himself in the third person?
“Yes, William will sit down for supper, if Thomas and James come too.”
“William does not like Sir Tophamhat!”
(Maybe you have to be staring at the 4 year old to really understand just how weird this sounds? Okay, then check out this Zappos live chat for another example. ) Well, that’s a bit what it’s like when an organization presents itself as an entity in social media. They sound pompous and self-important.
Moreover, Twitter streams from these corporate accounts read like relentless sales promotion updates.
(Check out @Microsoft_Xbox for an example. ) None of this ‘communication’ sounds like human conversation.
Social media users realize that we are not really interacting with “the organization” itself when we’re interacting online with these corporate accounts. Yet, even as we recognize behind @Microsoft_Xbox is some person working the levers and the keyboard, it still takes up some of our cognitive energy to manage the disconnect between the third-person presentation and the understanding that there is a first-person back there somewhere.
We all know that “The organization” does not participate on social media; the organization’s representatives do. These representatives can participate “as” a single person, where several members maintain one profile together (e.g., @Offic_Live ). Or, individuals can participate as solo representatives of the organization.
Either way, it is up to individual members of the organization, working on the organization’s behalf, to be the actual social media participants.
There are only 6 different tactics for creating a first-person organizational presence in social media.
These are:
1. The “official” spokesperson, where a clearly designated representative speaks only for the organization, without any personal disclosure or personal opinion. Often, these representatives sound like corporate tools, no offense.
2. The corporate avatar, where an obviously fake character, ghostwritten by either a pr person or organization members, represents the organization’s official opinion. The avatar’s personality is crafted to support the corporate image. (@AndrexPuppy is a sweet, rather benign example of this strategy.) Fake, and okay since we know it’s fake.
3. The corporate persona: A fictitious character who is not revealed as a fake, whose identity the writer assumes when s/he writes and interacts with others.
(For obvious reasons, these are hard to identify. Tell me if you’ve discovered any on Twitter, besides @StephenTColbert , or is that @StephenColbert?) Can you say “Don’t trust ‘me’?” 
4. The CEO as spokesperson, where the CEO participates specifically as a representative of the organization. He or she virtually never speaks or shares an opinion that does not also match the official opinion of the organization.
5. The composite avatar, a multi-authored presence that is presented as a singular, real person. Authors may or may not have their own names or identifiers, but the presence is represented by one real person’s name, face, and perspective. Often the individual is a CEO, whose words are supplied by professional writers. (This is what seems to go on with @Mashable. The avatar is a photo of Pete Cashmore, but the actual tweeters are a bunch of different folks, not always identified as themselves.) Ranges from bad to good, depending on the level of transparency in the the relationship between the individuals and the organization/collective.
6. The brandividual, the individual whose online voice is his or her real personality and views mixed with the personality and views of the official corporate brand.
(Another strategy, where the representation is corporate but the writers are clearly individuals, is @Office_Live (Microsoft). This strategy is more transparent, but by my estimation still a bit distant.)
What makes brandividuals special is that this strategy satisfies not only for a first-person presence but also social media’s demand for authenticity.
By putting an identifiable human face on the corporation, brandividuals are a way that individual employees can participate in social media on the organization’s behalf in ways that help to render authenticity.
Stakeholders seem to dislike (and maybe even resent) the opacity and lack of responsiveness represented by “the organization” online. As a response to this resentment of “corporate” impersonality,
the real person, real-time interaction with the brandividual is the perfect antidote.
I am an organizational consultant, change advocate, and organizational identity/reputation scholar with a PhD in leadership & organizations. I research, write about, and consult with organizations on the relationships between organizational identity, actions, and purpose. I teach Technology Management, part-time, at Stevens Institute of Technology.
My current research focuses on how social technologies in the workplace can drive organizational change, generate meaning, and catalyze purpose. See the 
{ 2 comments }
CV,
Thanks for breaking down the way users see online corporate accounts and for giving a name to “brandividuals.” Laying out the six ‘first-person’ tactics helps all social media users see where they stand in terms of organizational presence. Great post!
-Jess
Hi Jess, I wish I could take credit for the brandividual idea, but in truth it’s really just new spin on an old old issue in agency theory…the balance between self-interest and the interest of those whom you represent… But the importance of speaking in the first person is something I’d like to understand more, myself.
Thanks so much for your comment! cv
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