I absolutely agree. Beyond the loss of autonomy and design flexibility; these ‘conveniences’ dilute our personal brands — if not used correctly.

Beyond my own ‘brand’ (which always needs work) I help clients develop their brands. And they normally want to start on Facebook and LinkedIn. It takes a serious conversation to help them understand that those platforms can support their brand but is not where they should build their brand and identity. Create a great site with great content and eye-catching visuals and cross-promote to the various platforms. But you should (almost) ALWAYS be driving people to your site: the place where you have the greatest latitude and options for showcasing who you really are. Otherwise you are building Medium and Facebook’s brand.

And to @Megan: there are still lots of clients who want super fast and ultra-configurable websites. And for them only HTML/CSS will work. But, they also need the ability to ‘blog’. For some, we keep it all HTML. If they aren’t going to post themselves anyway this also removes headaches associated with security vulnerabilities and ensures the fastest possible site. But for most, it’s an HTML front-end with a matched-design CMS backend. This allows incredible speed (important in a mobile-first world) for front-facing pages, while still providing back-end flexibility. And, if you are afraid of the commenting trolls, set your CMS so that all comments must be approved. Or, alternatively, set very strict guidelines for all comments (banned words, # of links, etc.). And throw in a CAPTCHA for good measure: that stops most of the bots.

All-in-all a personal site, thoughtfully developed and carefully curated, is the best place for a designer/developer/writer/whatever to create and curate their personal brand and credibility.

Great job Rachel.