The scale of a building under construction is ultimately defined -- and constrained -- by the breadth and strength of its foundation. Thus, the recent report from Pivotal Research's Brian Wieser about the Internet ad industry's increasing dependence on large endemic marketers for growth is cause for concern for some.

Marketing is all about psychology. It's about culture. It's about audience. These are simple facts, but the other fact is that technology is substantially changing the psychology and culture of the audience.

Joe Mandese, the multiple-personality editor in chief of MediaPost, filling in on today's Spin Board, which is a post in between departing Spinner Jason Heller, and (here's some news) returning Spinner Max Kalehoff, who will resume his eloquent assessment of, if I may risk some trademark infringement, all things digital. But back to my multiple-personality disorder, because this post actually has something to do with that topic.

Last year I resolved to become more active in online networking. While I had worked in digital media for over a decade, I had neglected to build my own brand online. I was a good marketer for my clients, but I had neglected to fully market myself. Apparently my efforts at brand building over the past six months have been productive. Assuming that a Klout score actually matters, I now have a rating of 55. Here are the four steps I took that seem to have improved my personal brand value:

I've spent the last few days reviewing entries for the Interactivity category of the Prix Jeunesse competition. The age group I was tasked to look at was 7-12-year-olds, and I was amazed -- and impressed -- by how many of the sites and apps proffered for consideration dealt with difficult topics: a mother's breast cancer, a child's homosexuality, a social services intervention, and even the death of a classmate.

"Every1 who can please turn to OWN especially if you have a Neilsen [sic] box." With that tweet to her 9 million followers at 9:03 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 12, Oprah Winfrey caused a stir in the TV world and drew a rebuke from Nielsen for violating its rules against trying to bias the TV ratings sample (but, apparently, not for misspelling the company's name).

I say this with love, but if the Greek King Sisyphus were "alive" today, his punishment would be to work at an agency. Sisyphus was punished for the crime of trickery against the gods by being damned to hell and forced to push an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down the hill -- a punishment set to go on for eternity. This is a common analogy brought up in today's ad agency world, because most agency executives feel that working with clients and delivering success is Sisyphean in nature. They rarely get recognized, they …

oday's column marks the one-year anniversary of my Online Spin column (and 11 years since I was first featured in the publication -- how time flies). Writing a substantive and thought-provoking weekly column is no easy task, particularly while growing a business. The weekly deadline was both rewarding and challenging. But now I must pass the torch.

Last week at the IAB Annual Meeting in Miami there was a fascinating presentation by Rob Norman, CEO of GroupM North America, who responded to questions about the future viability of the media agency model in the face of competition posed by ad tech startups. Norman made the case that agencies have recently made their own investments in advertising technology and would continue to prosper. Agencies are also upgrading their talent to look more like ad tech firms. Clearly, media agencies have finally realized that integrating and managing ad tech is no longer someone else's job. With the agencies once …

I confess to being a little dismayed at the email I received a little over a year ago in response to my application to attend the TED conference in Long Beach, Calif. "We're sold out," it said, "but we're happy to take a bunch of money from you so you can watch it on TV down the road."