Today I was somewhat surprised to receive a tweet from one of my (I’m guessing newer) followers saying he was ‘disappointed that I tweet personal content from this account’ and that he ‘expects more CSS related content’. I’m not going to link to the tweet, because I feel that’s not necessary, but I was a little taken aback. Here’s my open reply…
N.B. This article is not aimed directly at the person who sent the tweet, rather an open letter to everyone…
CSS Wizardry is my own personal branding. It started off as my portfolio back in 2007 when I was 17. Since then it has transformed as I released more and more tutorial and resource content, and started writing in-depth articles. I also joined Twitter to help spread my personal brand to reach a wider audience. Twitter, along with some very high brow followers I am both pleased and humbled to have acquired, has been a massive force in CSS Wizardry’s expansion.
Since its inception, CSS Wizardry has remained free to use, and free of ads. I currently do not monetise CSS Wizardry whatsoever. Cheeky wee ad in the sidebar. I have provided hours and hours and hours of decent, insightful content at no cost to my followers/readers and have not directly collected a penny for myself from doing so. CSS Wizardry costs me massively in both time writing content, and money in hosting etc. I give a lot away for nothing, and actually at cost to myself.
I was conscious some time ago that I had a few personal articles on CSS Wizardry which I thought were perhaps out of place, so I created my even-more-personal site at harryroberts.co.uk to house all that stuff.
People like to follow people, otherwise they’d just read RSS feeds…
If you really don’t want any personal stuff appearing via Twitter then simply don’t follow me. If you just want web development content then subscribe to the feed, but please please please…
Play fair, CSS Wizardry is a time and cash investment on my part to provide good quality content for you for free. Don’t bitch about it, ey? That’s just ungrateful…
By Harry Roberts on Wednesday, September 29th, 2010 in CSS Wizardry. Tags: Personal Branding, Twitter, Writing | 10 Comments »
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Dani Kelley said on 29 September, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Odd. I enjoy the mix of personal and “business” tweets – I think it shows that you’re a whole person, not painstakingly segmented but whole and complete. But maybe I’m a minority – who knows :) I think you’re doing it right.
MaFt said on 29 September, 2010 at 1:45 pm
I find it frankly disgusting that you talk about bikes on Twitter. If I wanted to read about bikes I would follow @BikeTweets. As it is, I follow @CSSWizadry – which turns out to be a lie. I am yet to see ANY discussion of wizards, witches, warlocks or magic of any kind. You should be ashamed of yourself. If you don’t have time to be ashamed of yourself then I will happily bear some of that shame myself, on your behalf, for a small fee.
Dave Pickstone said on 29 September, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Great post. Just because your twitter name has “CSS” in it doesn’t mean you need to just spew CSS information like those aggregating accounts.
Like Dani says, the fact you mix personal and business makes you a whole lot more respectable – and the same goes for your “brand”.
Keep up how you are twittering at the moment!
Tony Jacobs said on 29 September, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Some of the CSS content is of interest to me, some of it makes me think you need to get a life… the personal stuff proves you already have one. Keep it up mate.
MrMoosehead said on 29 September, 2010 at 1:59 pm
You write about CSS stuff as well?
}:8)
Paul said on 29 September, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Like the mix of personal and development stuff. Keep it up!
dedos.info said on 29 September, 2010 at 2:18 pm
the nets can be so frustrating sometimes eh…
keep on the good work, though.
i find your work at css wizardry very helpful and honest.
regards from brazil
matthew carleton said on 29 September, 2010 at 2:28 pm
I thought I might comment on this being I was the one who started this conversation. While I appreciate you not putting my name out there, Anonymity does not really exist in the world of twitter.
I thought about what you said, and while I do see where you are coming from I still disagree.
I don’t think its unfair to say that when you have a name like “CSS Wizardry” two conclusions will be made.
I mean no offense at all when I say I do not follow you to know about your personal life, just as I don’t watch a news broadcast to know the personal life of the anchor person.
I follow you because I have made the aforementioned conclusions and would consider you a viable source for CSS guidance. When I read content that is everything but, I am slightly disappointed. That is just the honest truth, as subjective as is it.
I think you are privileged to have gained such quick success on twitter, but I would think if you want to continue to grow the brand of “CSS wizardry” you may want to consider keeping more on topic.
I think this is a really interesting topic, and while I did not intend for it, I am glad that this has come about.
Harry Roberts said on 29 September, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Matthew: I didn’t feel it necessary to include a link as your comment was not openly offensive or said in a provocative manner, but thanks for stepping forward into the debate.
CSS Wizardry was dreamt up three years ago, and has since grown into something far bigger than I can have expected or imagined. The name has stuck with what was a portfolio, and now a source of original (that is to say not a feed aggregator) web development content, and it is just that, a name.
To make an assumption based on someone’s Twitter username is, whilst doable, a little short sighted. Don’t judge a book by its cover and all that.
To base your expectations of a stream of content solely on its name is to, as you saw, build yourself expectations that might not be met. And whilst I can fully see your point here, to be disappointed by something you can optionally receive or not receive for free is a little silly, really.
This analogy here I feel falls a little short. A news anchor is a person relaying third party information, my Twitter feed is me (Harry Roberts) under my site’s name (CSS Wizardry) writing about first party things. An article I wrote, or what I had on my toast this morning.
I’m not sure for how long you have been following me, however you may have missed this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or this.
I have voiced concerns before that I do worry I might not be writing enough blog content, or that I need to lay off the personal stuff a little more, but this is at my discretion while ever I am providing my own content for a non-paying audience.
I think the word ‘disappointed’ was possibly a little much. I could see you being disappointed with hearing nothing but where the cat is sleeping, or what colour socks I am wearing from a service/site to which you are a paid subscriber, but as I’m just a guy writing articles for free for anyone who might enjoy reading them, I feel being told my Twitter feed is a disappointment somewhat ungrateful.
All the best,
Harry
matthew carleton said on 29 September, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Your response is fair.
I commend you on making an effort to minimize the personal content. As a reader of your blog, and a follower of your twitter feed, I look forward to seeing more CSS related articles.
Let me clarify something, I use the word disappointed because, as you mentioned, there is a focus on CSS and development in general, but when I see content that is not, I simply wish it were. That brings about disappointment. If anything it is not a sign of an ungrateful follower but one that has appreciated good content and has learned to expect it.
I think it may be a little assumptious to say that people should be grateful for content offered up. If you were among a few elite that had decided to offer free content, than yes you would be entitled to expect gratitude, but you are among hundreds of thousands who do this on a regular basis. It is a give and take relationship, just as you take from those you follow.
In a environment such as the web we are free to say what we want, I think this creates a huge responsibility to our readers.
If you or anyone else is interested in posting personal content why not have a separate feed for it. Don’t miss my main point here, I enjoy the content I just wish for a little more continuity.
Surely you can see how someone could have certain expectations based on a name. I would agree I am judging a book by the cover, but only in the way one would judge a math book but its cover and assume it contained content on the subject of math.
There is no need to defend what you do. I simply wanted to point out that at least one of your 2260 followers was more interested in your professional insight rather than your personal life, I would imagine I am not alone. It is your choice what you do with that feedback.
And for the record, I will continue to follow you.
Cheers.