As marketers work around the clock to leverage the newest social media platform, I can’t help but reflect on my first uses of social media. I’m a firm believer that you can’t evolve or grow without knowing your roots and learning from your past—and I realize now that in my past, I was engaged in social media before there was such a thing as “social media.”

It was about 13 years ago when I created my first site—a “Power Rangers” fan site. It was actually popular. The site was originally hosted on Geocities (and then I switched servers a few times due to the need for more space), and I networked with fellow fans, exchanged links and participated in “Power Ranger” sponsored chats to promote my site. My alias, Lil’ Warrior, was fairly well known in the community (if I do say so myself!). I made a contact with a Fox network executive, who leaked story lines and photos to me. And I did what any fan boy would, I posted the photos on my Website and posted the information on a then popular message board community, Kyle Ripley’s Power Ranger Message Board (which is now closed) and Ranger Central, where I was a frequent participant.

It may not have been recognized as social media back then, but at 11 years old, I was connecting with people from all around the world, sharing information and finding ways to get my Website marketed to the right target. My Website was my brand. It helped my status as a credible resource, and my activity in the space only furthered my credibility.

As Len Berman, the Emmy-winning sportscaster who presented at this month’s Mashable Media Summit, said, “You are a brand.” Whether you recognize it or not, you’re more than just someone speaking or writing. You’re telling the world who you are. And through my social networking, via message board participation and activity in AOL chat rooms, I was telling the world I was the “go-to” person for “Power Rangers” information and news.

When I started high school, I headed for Xanga, which was a popular blogging platform back then (and the Xanga page still lives somewhere in the World Wide Web). I initially decided to create a Xanga page to vent my frustrations about high school, life and on being one of the few minorities in a Huntsville, Ala.

Fellow Asian-Americans across the U.S. left comments because they could relate to my high school experiences. At that time, who would have thought a kid’s musings from Alabama would be read in places like San Diego, L.A.—and even Canada? I still keep in contact to this day with some of the people who read my Xanga.

Even with my all my experience with what was known as “surfing the web” during that time, I still hadn’t grasped the concept of “social media.” I was being social and using media, but I didn’t refer to it as “social media.” It was just something for me to do.

When I started college at Oglethorpe University and took my first communications class, Broadcasting in the New Electronic Media, with Dr. Seema Shrikhande, I started to realize just how much I could use “surfing the web” to my advantage.

For instance, when I pledged a fraternity, we were charged with throwing the annual pledge party for the brothers. We had to come up with the theme, coordinate drinks, promote the party (note that we had to compete with another fraternity’s annual Halloween party), etc. I volunteered to be the marketer for the party, and since I was too lazy to walk the entire campus handing out flyers, I asked one of my graphic design friends to create a digital invite for me.

The invite was e-mailed to friends, and top-line key information was shared via Myspace (this was back in the day, 2004, when Facebook was still a college-only online community and Oglethorpe hadn’t yet been granted access). I still remember my Myspace message—it read:

XX (Name not disclosed) Presents Miami Nights! B.Y.O.B.

WHERE: Greek Row – XX House

WHEN: 10/30/2004

WHY: Great music, sexy co-eds and lots of heat!

Pass along, please!

It was short, simple and got the message across. My Myspace friends shared it with their friends, and it was a viral hit! (At the time, it was known simply as a “success.”)

In fact, even the rival fraternity attended our party, and there were a few non-Oglethorpe students who got the message from their Myspace friends. We even had a review in our campus newspaper, The Stormy Petrel. (I have the printed article saved.)

So post-college and a few internships with a modeling agency and big PR firms later, I’m now 24 years old and working with Euro RSCG Worldwide PR in its social media practice. I get to implement ideas and tactics I used as a kid, which I enjoy, and learn from other experienced professionals here.

One of the most important things I’ve learned is that I’ve grown up with social media, and social media—like me—still has lots of room to grow!