So here goes nothing - having a foreign name does not do one any good in the blogosphere or the digital world, but I have decided to stick to using my real name. Can't handle multiple personas:
- the first site that came up unfortunately was an unused linkedIn page. I had the idea to create my online identity last year and so I set up a few accounts. Few months later with all the work pile up I have forgotten the passowords etc and basically havent used the account for a while. I guess the logical thing would be to find a way to retrieve and revive this account otherwise as mentioned it does look unprofessional.
- second site was facebook
- third was a site with information on my current research by the UKCRN (Sharing Bad News Study).
- fourth is 192.com - really bad going for me I think
- fifth is the university website profile
- sixth is twitter
- and then the rest are not worth mentioning. With the images my name is quite common in my home country and so really I do not feel this can be improved in anyway.
- Personas
- I still do not have a clear concept of what this does or how it does it, but my profile looks something like this :
- Social mention
- According to this tool, the likelihood that my name (brand) is being discussed in social media is 1%, but then again I dont know how accurate this tools are considering all the cultural differences of namenames, and other situational contexts.
I guess the big question as I see everyone else is asking - how do I create and maintain and online profile. There are so many tools and programs out there in cyberspace and everytime something comes I have been guilty of jumping on the band wagon in an attempt to stay visible and I confess that this does not work.
After reading the article about online personas in the times highe, I think a personal webpage is the way to go. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=413005
Having one personal website with all papers etc and careful maintanance is good as well as manageable over a long period of time. One can post pictures, papers, articles and anything they read in one place and link it to the ac.uk work page but have the ability to take it with you when you move on to the next job. There are also no limitations on the content that you can post and chances of forgetting the password are very slim, unlike having a dozen pages (facebook, twitter, linkedIn, academia etc).
Having said that I dont know whether I am ready to give up all the other accounts I have created, even though I rarely ever use them - well once or twice a month really, but I may soon come round to using them one day - when I do not have a mountain of data to analyse, grants to apply for, funding to seek etc and all the rest that comes with being a contract post doc researchers.
2 comments:
Some people are social media phobic - others of us (me too!) embrace and play with new technologies, before often abandoning them... I think this is valid - with this kind of skill, you really have to learn by doing, but googling yourself does demonstrate why you need a policy for tidying up afterwards. The internet is littered with tools I've set up and either decided they weren't useful, or I've forgotten the username....Blank or stagnant profiles do look bad. The best strategy, as you've realised, is to choose a few central tools which offer you the most functionality which you need, but which are easy to stay on top of. My concern is some platforms which, like the Hotel California, you can check out any time you like, but you can't never leave.... I suspect the facebook account I tried to delete years ago is actually just dormant....
Some people are social media phobic - others of us (me too!) embrace and play with new technologies, before often abandoning them... I think this is valid - with this kind of skill, you really have to learn by doing, but googling yourself does demonstrate why you need a policy for tidying up afterwards. The internet is littered with tools I've set up and either decided they weren't useful, or I've forgotten the username....Blank or stagnant profiles do look bad. The best strategy, as you've realised, is to choose a few central tools which offer you the most functionality which you need, but which are easy to stay on top of. My concern is some platforms which, like the Hotel California, you can check out any time you like, but you can't never leave.... I suspect the facebook account I tried to delete years ago is actually just dormant....
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