I am having a bit of an identity crisis. For the better part of the last ten years, Lorraine Ball and Roundpeg have been one and the same. Over the last few years the company has grown as I have hired some amazing and talented people. While each one of them fits the Roundpeg mold: “creative and quirky”, each one is also a unique individual.  It has been awesome to see the brand grow and change because of their influence.

So where does the identity crisis come in? It is on Twitter. Four years ago when I first jumped in, twitter was for fun. I never expected twitter to be more then just an interesting way to stay in touch with friends.   I certainly never anticipated how integral to my business it would become. I choose @roundpeg as my handle because it was short and memorable. And since it was the name of my company, it made sense.

And it has made sense for a long time. With more than 5,000 followers, I love when someone, even a total stranger stops me and says:  “Hey!  You’re Roundpeg!” I like being Roundpeg. But today, Roundpeg is more then me. It  gets confusing when you see tweets talking about me @roundpeg or the company @roundpeg.  To make things more complicated, I am  also Lorraine Ball, someone who has ideas, interests and opinions which don’t make sense coming from @roundpeg the company.

So now the hard question: How do I separate the two brands? This wouldn’t be a big deal if we weren’t a social media company, but we are. We get paid to answer tough questions about social media branding for others.  This is one we have to answer for ourselves…and the answer is simple, it is time for @roundpeg to represent the company overall.

split personality

Now my challenge is how do I make that migration? After four years, and more than 20,000 tweets, @roundpeg has quite a following. We will maintain the company account, but how do I start over with a twitter account that has 40 followers and just 13 tweets? (Fortunately, I was smart enough to grab my name a few years ago, just in case)

We tell people we can help them build real twitter communities, not just legions of spam followers, so it is time to put my money where my mouth is, and do it for myself.  In the transition, I will be writing from both accounts, moving the more personal content @lorraineball, but still maintaining a bit of fun and attitude @roundpeg (after all the company has a personality too).

How long will the separation take? I have no idea, but you can help by following both @roundpeg and @lorraineball on Twitter.