Public self-promotion is now required for employment across many occupations

Evidence

The cultural logic of celebrity has infiltrated so many occupations that blatant self-promotion is now stock in trade not only for up-and-coming rap stars and actresses, but also for software developers, journalists, and academics. Creating a public presence has become a required part of securing and maintaining a job. Sarah Lacy described this as work: “When people are buying your book and the base of fans is making you a brand, I think there’s your responsibility to give back to that … it’s very draining, but that’s kind of the fun part of it.” Similarly, some social media firms will not hire people without blogs or Face-book profiles, which become signs of cultural participation. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 406

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Marwick and boyd’s celebrity work and to broader debates about unpaid creative labor / the ‘personal brand’ requirement in hiring. — connects to: Self-promotion wins recognition that itself becomes a selling credential — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 447; A visible public persona is a requirement for staying employed in the tech scene. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 626; Self-branding lets workers claim aspirational job titles regardless of actual rank — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 468 (+4 more)
• SEED: Angle: how the personal-brand imperative turned self-promotion from a celebrity behavior into a hiring filter across white-collar work.

Broader Connections

• A visible public persona is a requirement for staying employed in the tech scene. #exemplifies (0.85) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 626
• Self-branding treats the self as a salable commodity marketed to employers #expands (0.85) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 418
• Self-branding success is unsustainable for most and structurally excludes marginalized workers #qualifies (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 444
• Self-promotion wins recognition that itself becomes a selling credential #expands (0.75) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 447
• Personal branding emerged as a response to job insecurity in the 1990s #expands (0.75) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 155
• Self-branding lets workers claim aspirational job titles regardless of actual rank #expands (0.72) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 468
• Social media promotes an ideal of privatizing the self into corporate form #expands (0.72) — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 354