People customize their stuff. The easiest way in Skypeland is to change your avatar.

Today's banner has a few avatars I used lately. Left to right: Skype Journal Labs, Phil on the street, exploding Phil, Phil as a yellow M&M Peanut candy holding a microphone, a Skype for Enterprise badge, and a Skype for Cows badge.

Some make a point, others are silly. All of them reveal something about their chooser [pleeeease don't tell what they say about me].

But I can only show one avatar at a time, just one, for everyone I know. And, frankly, I'd prefer a dignified avatar in a strategy consulting context, a fun one for my friends, a Skype-related one for the Skypers among us, a personal photo for my family.

Skype's identity model forces me to compromise, to project one personality for everyone. That doesn't fit my more mature reality, my faceted identity, my social identities, personas I choose to project based on social context.

I worked with a manager who didn't want a photo of his face in the employee directory. He conducted most of his job by phone. He preferred to establish relationships with his voice without racial overtones; his educated speech and warm, professional phone voice boosted his effectiveness and career. His photo, his company avatar, would have injected race into his internal customer relationships. Context affects everything when it comes to managing our personal brands and building social capital.

Wishlist: let me associate a mood, avatar, profile data and a Full Name with each contact group.

See more Skype Journal art on our banners blog. Skype me or send flickr mail if your photo or illustration fits our 900x72px shape and tells a story.