Own Voice.

Enough of all that. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

(But first, something Twittery. Check out these maps. They’re maps, they’re about Twitter, they’re interactive. It’s like my geek trifecta. But you’ll like them, they’re Superbowly, too.)

And now, believe it or not, something with a morsel of thought behind it.

I’ve been playing with the phrase “own voice” for weeks now. It doesn’t sound like much till you start to think about it. But then you start to see more to it.

Just now, you read the title of this post in one of two ways.

Either number one, you read “own voice” as in “own the share of voice”. If you read it this way you are probably a marketing wonk and you have my sympathies.

Or number two, you read “own voice” as in “speak with your own voice”. This is probably more common.

But either way, the question remains.

Do you?

Do you own voice? Meaning, are you speaking up enough in the conversation? It doesn’t matter what the conversation is exactly, just as long as it’s the one that matters to you. Whether that conversation is about raising your kids or deciding international fashion trends – do you have enough of a say in it?

And is it your own voice? When you do talk, are you really expressing how you feel? Or are you saying what you think someone in your place should say – what you think someone else wants to hear – what you think you ought to want to say?

Double-check yourself. You might not be as own-voice-y as you think you are.

Speak and speak like you.