A couple of weeks ago, Amber Naslund synthesized a couple of ideas together, and articulated her social contract over on Altitude Branding.
What is a social contract?
Well, it’s a statement of intent.
A vision statement, if you will, describing who you are, what you get if you interact with that individual. It’s a description of what you can expect from their personal brand.
I didn’t see this really catch on around the social media/marketing community when I was checking my feeds.
That seems a shame, because I think that people should know what they are getting when they follow you, read your stuff, and recommend you as some sort of authority.
This really is something we all should do.
It took me a couple of weeks to crystallize my thoughts about this. I did not want to commit to something that wasn’t me, and I did not want to drag the list out to 50 bullet points. It had to be tight, concise, and ring true to me.
So what do you get when you read/follow Justin Whitaker?
What is my Statement of Intent?
1. What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG). My personality is a real mix, much like the Boston weather. You know that description of Cancers? That’s pretty much me, in a nutshell. I won’t hide that mercurial nature, nor my personality, in an attempt to gain your business or trust. You have to decide if you like what you see.
2. I always try to be as transparent as possible. There is no kimono to lift, no curtain to pull back, no veil to pierce. If I am doing something, my agenda will be clear, the process transparent.
3. I think we are all in this (life, industry, society) together. So if you are doing something great, something smart, something remarkable, then I am going to promote the hell out of it. I will always make sure that you get the credit, and I will acknowledge that I am riding your coattails.
4. I don’t do flame wars. If you have an issue with me or my opinion, that’s fine. I do not expect to be popular, nor do I expect everyone to always agree with me. I accept all constructive criticism that comes my way gracefully.
What I do expect is that I have the opportunity to state my case in a civil manner, and you will have the same. Invective, name calling, flame-wars will just be ignored. Go yell and scream on your own little corner of the web.
5. I will totally crib Amber on this one:
When I screw up, I’ll say so. And apologize. And do what I can to make it right. I’m human too, and failure is part of the game.-Amber Naslund.
6. I have a bunch of interests, and I hope you do too.
By training, I have a background in Finance and Strategy, but my interests include marketing, social media, consulting, open source software, gaming, music, politics, and food.
I do not have the time to maintain more than one blog, so not everything I write will be of interest to you if your interests are not as broad.
Either I post what I want, and keep this blog going, or I end up with a bunch of “I haven’t posted in a while” apologies.
Since I can’t stand those sorts of blogs, I am going to post at liberty.
If something I write does not interest you, then just ignore that post, and wait for the next one. I’ll try to make sure I have something for everyone.
7. If I don’t know something, I will say it. I won’t make something up to make it sound good. If you want all the answers, consult a Magic 8-ball.
8. I back Open Source, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Creative Commons. I think we would all be better off as businesses and as a society if we just dropped the pretense that we somehow had the one original idea worth paying for, and started building on our collective knowledge and effort.
So, like Amber, sharing is in my DNA. If I have it, and I am allowed to share it, then you will have it too. Just toss me a link back or attribution somehow.
9. I always try to walk the talk, but I am not infallible. I’ll do my best to follow everyone that follows me, and respond to every email, tweet, DM, and comment as time allows. If I don’t get to you, do not take offense. I will get there.
10. If I am not learning, I am bored. So I always keep and open mind, and I hope you will to.
Well, there you have it. A 10 point bulletin on what you can expect from me. Thanks to Liz Strauss and Amber Naslund for the inspiration.
Now it’s your turn.
What is your Social Contract?
Don’t make me tag you. 
Links:
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Justin,
I love it. I’m especially keen on your point #8. It frustrates me at times that we’re so damn protective of every bit of knowledge or information we have. And as you well know, I’m big on sharing what I know. I guess I believe in the rising tide raising all ships or something. I mean, I need to make money too, but I’ll do so by diving deep with people when they need me to help them understand stuff in context of their business. And I’ll share as much as I can along the way.
I’m so glad you shared this. Thanks.
Amber
Very nice list. I’ll have to get to mine soon.
Damn! Now I’ll have to do one, too. This is genius. Thanks to you and Amber.
Well, I guess I’m going to have to write one of these one day… Does the Twitter version have only 140 characters?
I’m actually for modified Open Source. No real restrictions, but a little more responsibility than we have now. Something about Wikipedia strikes me the wrong way, I guess….
Glad you all liked it.
Go ahead and link your “Statements” back. I would be interested in seeing what you all come up with!