Since social networking is getting more and more popular, the advertising industry has recognized the potential of these type of websites. The exploitation of this “new” space results in banners and lots of links all over websites. The word advertisement mainly triggers the association with the marketing of known brands and services, but it can also be interpreted in a wider sense: not just products, but even a person can become a brand. When people make a personal profile on websites like Facebook, they are probably creating an image of themselves. This image might even not reflect reality, but that does not mean that this kind of behaviour is completely conscious.
Just imagine this situation: you are creating your own profile on Facebook. At some point you will have to choose a profile picture. Presumably, you will not pick a picture that you do not like at all, or that does not flatter you. Unconsciously, you are starting to control your own image, because you want to appeal to other people, you want to appear to be a nice person. Social networks offer different strategies in order to achieve that: it is possible to manage the pictures of yourself on the internet (e.g. the possibility to detag inappropriate pictures), or you can try to profile yourself through the fanpages, by becoming a fan of the latest successful bands, etcetera. The possibilities are almost unlimited. Of course everybody is different, so some people will prefer to keep their profile quite neutral, whereas others might pretend to be the untroubled party animal.
At first sight, you could consider this way of advertising yourself to be quite irrelevant, but personal branding has real life effects, e.g. there are several examples of people getting fired after commenting on their job on social websites. Another possibility is that future employers check the internet in order to get to know their applicants from a different point of view. Given that your virtual activities can have such severe consequences, carefully managing your profile on social networking websites is no luxury anymore.
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