Opinotes #1 - Modern Personal Branding is weirder than I thought it would be

It has been couple months I have not written something here. Recently, I faced very tough months, it was a rendering period, but now it is getting better. I am not sure if my muscle memory can write it up correctly within this post, feel strange, tho. But I would try my best.

I have had so many weird things happen in the last three months, I resigned from my previous company and start my temporary career as YouTuber, Instagrammer, writer, Linkedin influencer and full-time jobless professional. Though I do not plan to be a TikToker, I dislike TikTok, not a huge fan. I didn't even have power to revive my Twitter account, I am not a good tweet. That decision is intentional. This is not my first attempt at building a personal brand on social media. I researched it a long time ago, and I am still finding the best direction for my character. You might think I am real, but there is no such thing. Everything on social media is fake. We must be aware of this fact. But honestly, I loved to share content through my Instagram story. Sometimes I went extra-miles, oversharing things, and too much. It is because I didn't manage it very well that I don't have the cadence to share my things in a scheduled manner. However, it doesn't represent who I am in real life, but 'jempols' did represent itself (#blaming). It is probably just representing 40% of who I am supposed to be. That being said, it is just 40 out of 100 of the real me. It has a word length limit to write with my two jempols on a single story.

What is Opinotes?

There is no dictionary in the world that lists opinotes as a word. It is just a made-up word that I created to represent Opinion and Notes. It refers to my written ideas that are shared through mediums like paper or blog posts, but not as lengthy as a book. Just as we commonly hear about footnotes or endnotes, opinotes provides as a new way to categorise this specific type of writing.

Remember, Opinotes originated from these unattractive little sites.

Welcome to the OPINOTES #1 🎉🎉🚀

Finding My Social Character in era 5.0

Instagram was originally used to share images with captions associated with them. Scenery, travel, anything related to our outside activities could be posted as media, for those who go out and touch-the-grass, this is a suitable platform to share the content. It was a straightforward journey that anyone can take within the platform, to get some dopamines once somebody likes or comment the post. Now, it has evolved to include stories, reels, and many other features. That's so nice, a micro-dopamine attack. But I personally use it frequently for "stories." I have never updated my posts, and most likely do not use it as it was designed for. I am not comfortable posting anything related to my face that is because I am ... ugly?, and no activity to feed somebody else, I am honestly not doing anything like someone else did? I went to provinces, enjoy the nature, scenery, I had enjoyed it without taking any single picture, stupid dumb. It has been 4-5 years since my posts have been frozen. Why is my life so boring? Yeah, I don't post anything for my followers except stories. I don't deserve to have followers because of that, I have nothing to offer. But thanks to my followers, colleagues, and friends. You are the best.

Some people start their social accounts and use them as they are. Unlike me, I would say that I am more comfortable with writing and video sharing. I didn't use my Twitter, instead I changed my Instagram to my Twitter. How about Threads? It is just like Twitter, I do not like it 100%, and is not providing a self-destructing messages feature, which vanish after a set amount of time. I am not a type of person who enjoy to give my historical message to all people. It is become a scary part of our lives AKA jejak digital 🥶. This is the era of society 5.0, we can prompt everything through artificial intelligence, even our historical tweet can be populated by the AI company by using our writings, images, photos, everything is possible to change our social algorithms.

I like to keep things mysterious, for the most part. Though, I also share odd things, cringe and everyone knows it. It is just part of life, right?

Then how about personal branding? It depends on how we deliberately improve ourselves to be concise in our social communication to the audiences.

The above image illustrates how personal branding should be approached. Everything must be balanced, much like enhancing all the attributes of our character. I couldn't say that this is building a reputation, but personal branding is part of it.

Understanding What People Curious about

I am not a specialist in this particular topic, but as far as I observe, I got many hints about increasing the chance of success to get more temporal engagements. I came across several accounts that has so many followers, until I found most of their content are:

• Made-up story, alias Gimmick. Many accounts with large number of followers often rely on made-up stories or gimmicks to go viral. The goal is to create content that is highly shareable and resonates with a broad audience. The attention-grabbing can boost engagement in the short term, they often lack substance and may not build long-term trust with the viewers.
• Speaking negatively or in opposition made people angry. This type is actually bad idea, I would say it is 50:50 chance, it can lead them to be reported if there is a community guideline violence, however in certain circumstances it worked perfectly. Negative or controversial content tends to elicit emotional responses, which can drive higher engagement through link click, comments, shares, and likes as well.
• Momentum, similar to political standing, is a powerful tool for creators. While I could be mistaken, I have observed many creators leveraging trending topics or hot issues to boost their engagement and visibility, even though they were usually not into politics. It is weird. Some of them are just capitalising on current, high-interest subjects, they effectively capture audience attention and drive more interactions from the people. But, it is still categorised as normal in this transition phase, despite the anomaly.

The above share points are quite sophisticated strategies to make algorithms even crazier. Therefore, social media platforms need to revolutionise their guidelines to adapt this evolution accordingly. Because it will affect the whole process, how can they make sure we get the essential informations, not trashes. This can be different story If we are a social media content specialist, we need to create content that is quite engaging, not necessarily weird. However, even engaging content could potentially make us cringe sometimes.

And from the audiences' perspectives, people often exist in their own echo chambers, they are seeking out information that reinforces their existing beliefs and avoid perspectives that challenge or negatively impact their opinions.

As a result, individuals tend to engage with arguments and viewpoints that align with what they want to hear, while in the same time dismissing or ignoring contrary information.

Nonetheless, honestly, the essential methodology requires only an Authenticity. And currently I am still experimenting the best approach for myself too. Such as this experimental video, people tend to love when it comes a unique character in front of their screen, I was wearing the black sunglasses during the content:

The engagement is quite solid as I got 14K viewers solely for this video, since I brought an authenticity and an odd character.

At least I had tried my best to invest my personal branding haha, walaupun masih sedikit maksa.

Final Thoughts

I have always appreciated how this modernity seems odd to me, especially in this digital and society 5.0 era. But it is what it is.

All in all, as social creatures, we thrive on communication and connection. We all have strengths and weaknesses, and we seek both entertainment and novelty in our lives. As long-time observers, we continuously invest on sharing new ideas and experiences with so-called personal branding.

See you in another Opinotes!

Cheers~ 🥂