Personal Branding Blog – Dan Schawbel

If your new to this blog, then the guy with the smile to the left is me. This past weekend, I purchased a new toy, after waiting for the price to go down and for all the bugs to be fixed. The iPhone is quite an impressive piece of equipment I must say.

My favorite features are:

(1) The YouTube application that let’s you search, bookmark and view any video on YouTube in wide screen format (2) The Google Maps application that let’s you (via satellite) pinpoint where you are, input where you want to go and give you directions on how to get there with ease (3) The clock application that lets you set many different time zones (great for calling people across the globe) (4) Just like the clock, the weather application let’s you set the weather for different locations, which is good if you’re traveling (5) Last but not least, voicemail management is amazing and it let’s you view each voicemail and select which one’s you want to listen to.

OK, my review of the iPhone is officially over. If you can pay the $416 (w/ tax) and add an extra $20 on your existing AT&T line (otherwise it’s over $50 per month!), then you should purchase it.

Now for what you all came here to see and learn about, personal branding. One of the very first things I did after buying the iPhone was to Google my name and “personal branding.” The object was to identify and discover how a search is conducted on a mobile appliance and to see how many results were shown at a time. The results of my experiment were quick and fascinating. As you can see below, after you search, you are only given the first result, without scrolling down. That being said, my goal for all of you for 2008 and beyond is to seek to be #1 in Google for both your name and that of the topic you want it to be associated with. As our eBrands move from desktop, to laptop and now to mobile, the amount of viewable search results declines. As more people use mobile devices, the number of hits the first result get’s will increase substantially (per keyword), whereas the one’s that are further down or on the 2nd page, will not even be noticed. People using mobile devices want to send and receive information quicker than with a home based computer. Please keep that in mind and let it motivate you to become #1 in Google!

Please leave a comment if results are different with a Blackberry, Nokia, or other mobile device.