The Personal-Branding Fever: Success at the Cost of Individuality - Gabriele Areolite

Dear Readers!

I am releasing this article to celebrate the rapid growth of my Newsletter: I would have never thought I'd reach 2000 subscribers in just the first two weeks! ??

Even for someone like me who doesn't particularly love social media, I must admit this is exciting. It carries something like a feeling of power, of possibility, of accomplishment.

It almost feels like the sky is the limit now, and gets to me believe I am on the right path to building a great platform to communicate and share my thoughts with the world.

If you are reading this, you might be wondering "What's even the point for you to do this?". Well - after years of hard work spent in the backstage of my businesses, I believe it is time to take this step and get myself out there.

My main motive is the feeling that I have a lot to tell, talking about my experiences and philosophy, and that so far I have been lacking the channels to get my message through effectively.

Now that my new website is finally online, I think I am finally ready to put my face and ideas out there, for everyone to see.

Bathing in the spotlight

Last weekend I attended SPIEL Essen , the largest tabletop gaming fair in the world. I went and shook hands with manufacturers, publishers and distributors, introducing my first Board Game project by Hashtag 64 , whose mechanics are based on the Mining Industry and dedicated to my venture ARDEVUR Commodities.

I got the chance of making great connections in this new industry, and I even decided to open a new Instagram account (for the first time, after having refused to be on there for years!), just to grow my network in the Gaming sector.

Once more, I saw followers and likes flooding my profile as soon as I published my pictures of the event and some mockups of my new game.

It felt good...Almost like I was in the right place, at the right time.

At present, personal branding seems to be the biggest trend on LinkedIn (and not only).

Everybody's talking about its power and everybody's doing it, trying to achieve the best spot in the first line, where they can be seen and appreciated.

The concept of Business Influencer is on the rise, and many are now chasing the goal of becoming one.

For reasons similar to most, I have recently began making active use of my LinkedIn Profile, regularly publishing my thoughts in the form of blogs and posts.

I immediately got views. I got readers. I got comments of appreciation.

It felt empowering.

Was I on my way to fame?

The not-so-hidden secret behind social media success

Same as I usually do with most things, I didn't stop at reviewing my social media statistics going up, and dug deeper to understand how booming on social media actually works, and how the most successful ones do it.

As I browsed around LinkedIn, I couldn't help but notice some patterns in other users' content:

• The most successful posts on LinkedIn, having hundreds of likes and comments, were always structured the same way: Same style of visuals, same text structure...same topics.
• Those posts were always released at specific times of the day, and the same users publishing their own content were also interacting with the posts of other users doing exactly the same thing, cycling in a loop of unlimited give and take. It seemed like they had cracked the ultimate secret of LinkedIn's growth.
• The text always felt kind of unnatural: Out of sudden, everyone had become an expert in business, in marketing, in successful selling and communication strategies, in coaching, and so forth.
• Everyone was so focused on underlining the importance of being "authentic" when creating content, and following this statement as a principle to live by.

Whatever they said or wrote - I couldn't help but think the stuff they posted felt forced, like they were not actually sharing their own thoughts, but simply inserting some copied/pasted content into a box and clicking on "Send".

Was it just my impression?

Weren't all the posts AI generated, or created by someone else who didn't speak, write or think at all like the person publishing the content?

How did those people manage to get thousands of interactions on a single post? Were they really that great? And how were they managing their professional committments and private lives, while producing such great content to post 7 days a week?

"Maybe I am just being too skeptical", I thought to myself.

Right after that, the answer came to me.

I got contacted by several Ghost Writers, offering me packages to write for me and boost my personal brand, or even teach me how to be successful on Linkedin.

The dilemma

I got tempted to "take the Red Pill and go deeper into the Rabbit Hole".

It also felt kind of like if the devil was asking me to sell my soul in exchange or success.

What did I do next?

I sat. Thought over my ultimate goals. Then looked at my principles. Thought of my goals again. Considered my efforts. Evaluated costs and benefits. Then took another look at my principles, adding a little bit of pride and ego, this time.

Among my thoughts, I found this one:

"The world seems to be going too fast now, so the only way there's left to launch and sell your product, is to create a face for it...an image for people to remember and interact with. There is too much data on the web, a bombardment of useless information that shadows quality content, real thoughts and authentic personalities."

Next thing, I thought to myself:

"How many people out there are actual coaches, experts, successful copywriters and editors? How many are in reality using AI for their writing? What is left of authenticity and individuality?"

I had stumbled upon the truth that those very ones claiming to be "authentic"...those showing others great success in their "personal-branding journey"...those, were stuck in the loop.

As my thoughts kept on tangling through my hair, I remembered the lyrics of a song:

I would not expect you felt unnoticed and ignored,
Better to rise above the clouds
Then be a stranger in the crowd.

All that you protected doesn't matter anymore,
Rather be stripped of all your pride
Than watch your dreams be cast aside.

You are caught up in your gravity,
Glorifying stardom,
Singing your own praise.

You live without shame,
You're digging up a gold mine,
Standing on the sidelines,
Watching through the looking glass.

[The Looking Glass, Dream Theater]        

"No, I won't sell my soul", I thought then.

"I REFUSE TO GIVE UP MY AUTENTICITY".

Taking it slow, while everybody else is racing

I am an old-fashioned writer: I refuse to leave my writing up to a machine whose IQ is lower than mine (even maybe not for so long), a soulless robot who re-elaborates and spits out lightspeed copy-paste stuff that's already been uploaded somewhere else on the internet.

In my reflection process, I came to the conclusion that I don't care about certain success, if that comes at the cost of selling out my individuality, my originality, giving up my personal thoughts and keeping on repeating the same stuff over and over again, like a broken disk.

I don't care about being known and appreciated, if that doesn't come from my own effort and from being myself.

Sorry, LinkedIn. I am not going to publish engaging posts with great hooks 7 days a week, just to hack your algorithm and take my visibility to the stars.

Not if I have to give up my personality and show a fake version of me, just because I know that's what others want to see.

I am who I am regardless of the trends, and that's my best asset.

How Technology has changed our way of thinking

Same as I refuse to put my own image in the hands of a ghost writer who doesn't know me and is not inside my head to copy my thoughts, I also refuse to depend on machines, and I wonder what will be left of our race, if we keep on relying this much on Artificial Intelligence.

What will be left of our race, if we keep on relying this much on AI?

• Will AI end up replacing us?
• Will we all be retired and leave it up to machines to execute our work?
• Will this turn out to be our best advancement ever, or mark the final decline of our race?
• What happens the day when a system breakdown or malfunction stop tech from making our lives easy? Will there be panic and chaos?

I have made up my mind about a theory of the future of the human race, which I like to call a "Prophecy".

I am in the process of writing "2064: Memories of the Future", and I will be releasing a detailed illustration of my vision in episodes, marking the beginning of my new life chapter as a Book Author.

Are we slave to Technology?

Just a few years back, our kind wasn't even aware that such powerful technology as that we possess now could be held in the palm of our hand and help us in every single daily task.

As we move forward in time, for many of us it has become almost unthinkable to complete a task and produce a quality job without the help of the internet and the tools it contains.

I challenge you to detect AI-written text in this article. Come on, try it!

You may find a typo somewhere, but this text comes right from my fingers.

No grammar and spelling correction. No GPTs writing my story.

Just raw and unflitered thoughts coming out of my virtual pen.

My question to you now, Dear Readers is:

"Are humans destined to involution? Are they going to go exinct and leave place to a better race, just as the law of Darwin suggest will happen? If yes, how long is that going to take?"

I have been studying this particular phenomenon for about 10 years now...I held meetings and interacting talks about the topic.

What is the destiny of the human race?

What is going to happen by the year 2064?

I leave you to a reflection on the above questions, and look forward to reading your contribution.

Comment, share your theories with me and open a debate about the topic!

"The Night Age". Extract from www.hashtag64.com

Post Scriptum:

Dear Readers,

Hashtag 64 is the materialisation of an intricate philosophy born in 2014 and a prophecy on the future of the coming 50 years, culminating in the year 2064.

As my new project slowly takes shape, I am going to keep publishing my thoughts and unveil some of the content of my future books, and the products I'll be releasing on the market.

I invite you to stay up to date and get notified on what's coming, next by joining Hashtag 64's launch waitlist on our new website.

I am excited to share my thoughts with the world and break the silence I have been keeping for many years on my inactive socials.

Sincerely,

Gabriele Areolite

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