One of the areas where social media will excel is in the opportunity to make things our own, to give them our own look and feel. Remember when you got your first personal computer? Remember changing the background picture? Remember when you could change the theme? The world is pushing further and further into a desire for customization, and I think social media gives us a chance at custom communication/interaction.

The photo above are Disney’s Vinylmation toys (note: Hanes brought me to Walt Disney World for an event, but I wasn’t paid by Hanes or Disney for any of my thoughts on their workings or properties). I thought the toys were really clever, but then I found the do-it-yourself ones. Those really caught my eye. Because once you see what others had created, your next thought (or mine, at least) was, “well, what could I do to make it look different?”

Social media allows us to customize our communication. I can talk directly to Jon Swanson, and not to preachers. I can have conversations with Glenda Watson Hyatt and not just people interested in accessibility. That means, if interested, I can talk specifically about things that matter to them, and not to crowds.

Custom is everything.

Look at these flowers. The Disney Imagineers made them for the Hanes event:

They’re made out of socks. First, it’s cool because they look like flowers. Second, it looks like a fun craft you could do with kids. Third, it’s something that didn’t have to be there. And yet, because it was, the dinner looked custom to the rest of the Hanes Comfort Crew and me. Disney SAW us. They knew we were there.

Custom is everything. Do you agree?

I’m president of my company, but I’m also a salesman. I’m president of my company, but I run a pirate ship. I’m a publisher, a writer, a blogger, an author, a videoblogger, a podcaster, a conference organizer, a community developer, a leader, a servant, a participant, a speaker, and many other things.

You worry about names. You think long and hard about titles. You put boxes around what you’re doing, if that suits you.

I’ll be over here just doing. Thinking, planning, doing, and observing my results.

What’s your name? How are you defining yourself? Better still (or worse), how does the name for what you do limit what you do?

Photo credit Jack Dorsey