These pitches came from the founders of tiny startups; for entrepreneurs, the personal brand was aligned with their small company. For freelancers, the pitch statement was the personal brand. I had to learn my own pitch to be comfortable in networking environments. Without a pitch, conversation doesn't flow smoothly, determining commonalities is impossible, and the other person often becomes uncomfortable. My pitch went something like "I'm a Ph.D. student studying how people use social media to increase their status. I'm investigating self-branding, micro-celebrity, and lifestreaming, and I'm looking for people in the industry to interview." Creating this pitch took four or five months of practice.

Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, loc. 489