Communication students' motives for and attitudes towards personal branding

Faculty Faculty of Humanities Department Department of Communication Author Suvi Joensivu Title Communication students’ motives for and attitudes towards personal branding Subject Organizational communication and PR Level Master’s thesis Month and year October 2015 Number of pages 92 + 7 Abstract Personal branding, self-branding, and self-promotion have been privileges of celebrities from different fields. Social media has, however, made the processes and techniques of personal branding accessible for a lot broader audience. Indeed, it has been argued that social media channels are nowadays the main arenas for personal branding. Digital communication and social media have created a new form of communication, mass self-communication. Therefore, it seems that social media has simultaneously been the catalyst and enabler for a phenomenon called personal branding. There are also two new generations that have grown up during the information technology revolution and their ways to use technology are drastically different from their parents. These adolescents and young adults feel at home online and spend a lot of time with online activities on a daily basis. Thus, the generations are partly constructing their selves online, some forming online identities. This research aims to clarify the motives driving communication students to brand themselves. Also, they ways in which social media is used in personal branding efforts will be explicated. In addition, the study attempts to form an overview about the attitudes communication students have towards personal branding. The respondent group consists of the communication students from the University of Jyvaskyla. Data was gathered with an online survey (N=61). The results indicated that the communication students found personal branding important. Yet, only one third of the students had a personal brand. Seemed, that if students had not branded themselves intentionally, they had difficulties in recognizing their personal brand. Also, it was noted that female and male students differ in the attitudes towards personal branding, and more likely had a male student a personal brand than a female student. The biggest motivator for personal branding was work and succeeding in the working world. Moreover, the students wanted to stand out and gain recognition as professionals. Indeed, the students linked personal branding quite strongly to work and professionalism. Social media was the main channel due to its ease and efficiency. According to the students, important in online personal branding was the quality of the content, activity, following other users, and the visuality of one’s profile.Personal branding, self-branding, and self-promotion have been privileges of celebrities from different fields. Social media has, however, made the processes and techniques of personal branding accessible for a lot broader audience. Indeed, it has been argued that social media channels are nowadays the main arenas for personal branding. Digital communication and social media have created a new form of communication, mass self-communication. Therefore, it seems that social media has simultaneously been the catalyst and enabler for a phenomenon called personal branding. There are also two new generations that have grown up during the information technology revolution and their ways to use technology are drastically different from their parents. These adolescents and young adults feel at home online and spend a lot of time with online activities on a daily basis. Thus, the generations are partly constructing their selves online, some forming online identities. This research aims to clarify the motives driving communication students to brand themselves. Also, they ways in which social media is used in personal branding efforts will be explicated. In addition, the study attempts to form an overview about the attitudes communication students have towards personal branding. The respondent group consists of the communication students from the University of Jyvaskyla. Data was gathered with an online survey (N=61). The results indicated that the communication students found personal branding important. Yet, only one third of the students had a personal brand. Seemed, that if students had not branded themselves intentionally, they had difficulties in recognizing their personal brand. Also, it was noted that female and male students differ in the attitudes towards personal branding, and more likely had a male student a personal brand than a female student. The biggest motivator for personal branding was work and succeeding in the working world. Moreover, the students wanted to stand out and gain recognition as professionals. Indeed, the students linked personal branding quite strongly to work and professionalism. Social media was the main channel due to its ease and efficiency. According to the students, important in online personal branding was the quality of the content, activity, following other users, and the visuality of one’s profile.