This week's task is about personal branding and image. I must admit, I didn't think about this too much when setting up the blog, and now I look back my blog name is a bit wordy rather than being short and snappy. I also have different names for my blog and the twitter account I set up, but I guess that they at least both have my real name attached to them, so I'm going to continue with that for now.
In terms of a style, I think I have been quite honest, but I have always been pretty careful about what I post on the internet, and luckily the internet didn't properly exist for my 14 year old self to leave a trail of embarrassing stuff for the world to come across today. My rule of thumb is that I don't post anything that I wouldn't want my boss or mother to see. Perhaps due to my mistrust, I don't really have much of a web presence right now. I am on facebook, but other than that had never done much online social stuff. I have recently joined twitter and might take a look at linked in. I really like the idea of a 'profersonal' style, as Jo suggests on the cpd23 blog.
I haven't added a photo of myself. Perhaps I should consider this, but that would be a bigstep for me, so may just stick at the considering stage! I will also revisit the branding and look, as I set the whole thing up quite quickly, so didn't really give it the thought I maybe should have.
So, what is already out there about me - well, I've recently changed my surname after getting married, so was interested to try a google search and see what came up. I have only quite recently (past couple of years) started using the web for much that I have put my name to, so wasn't expecting too much. My previous name is the same as an actress, so I had to add first 'library' and then 'solent' to get anything near me. There weren't many surprises - a link to a work portal with my contact details, a few postings of questions/comments to library related mailing lists, and that's about it.
My new name is unique enough that there wasn't too much worry of mixing me up with other people. I first searched at the start of the week, but just did it again today and found that my new twitter account is now top of the list, which is great. But it did make me realize that I would need to be super careful for the future, as I am an easily google-able person and cannot hide amongst lots of other pages!
Most of the first page related to me - other results included one related to a charity poster I bought via a Bluetones band blog, an institutional repository record I created for a journal article (just the one - presumably it was one that has done well for itself in the citation rankings), blog comments, and a couple of facebook 'likes'. This was pretty good - I can live with people knowing that I have a soft spot for 90s indie pop and give money to charity, and the rest were pretty innocuous, though was interesting to see the facebook likes. I verge on the obsessive of keeping my fb locked down as much as possible to my friends only, as I really view this as personal only, but obviously those sites I have liked share their data so something else for me to be aware of.
I suppose that I now need to start thinking not just about what I don't want the world to see (not that there is lots to hide!), but what I want others to find online about me, and how that puts 'me' across as a person/potential employee/contact etc. So, lots more to think about, but a pretty positive experience all the same. Next week, keeping in 'the loop' and current awareness!
In terms of a style, I think I have been quite honest, but I have always been pretty careful about what I post on the internet, and luckily the internet didn't properly exist for my 14 year old self to leave a trail of embarrassing stuff for the world to come across today. My rule of thumb is that I don't post anything that I wouldn't want my boss or mother to see. Perhaps due to my mistrust, I don't really have much of a web presence right now. I am on facebook, but other than that had never done much online social stuff. I have recently joined twitter and might take a look at linked in. I really like the idea of a 'profersonal' style, as Jo suggests on the cpd23 blog.
I haven't added a photo of myself. Perhaps I should consider this, but that would be a bigstep for me, so may just stick at the considering stage! I will also revisit the branding and look, as I set the whole thing up quite quickly, so didn't really give it the thought I maybe should have.
So, what is already out there about me - well, I've recently changed my surname after getting married, so was interested to try a google search and see what came up. I have only quite recently (past couple of years) started using the web for much that I have put my name to, so wasn't expecting too much. My previous name is the same as an actress, so I had to add first 'library' and then 'solent' to get anything near me. There weren't many surprises - a link to a work portal with my contact details, a few postings of questions/comments to library related mailing lists, and that's about it.
My new name is unique enough that there wasn't too much worry of mixing me up with other people. I first searched at the start of the week, but just did it again today and found that my new twitter account is now top of the list, which is great. But it did make me realize that I would need to be super careful for the future, as I am an easily google-able person and cannot hide amongst lots of other pages!
Most of the first page related to me - other results included one related to a charity poster I bought via a Bluetones band blog, an institutional repository record I created for a journal article (just the one - presumably it was one that has done well for itself in the citation rankings), blog comments, and a couple of facebook 'likes'. This was pretty good - I can live with people knowing that I have a soft spot for 90s indie pop and give money to charity, and the rest were pretty innocuous, though was interesting to see the facebook likes. I verge on the obsessive of keeping my fb locked down as much as possible to my friends only, as I really view this as personal only, but obviously those sites I have liked share their data so something else for me to be aware of.
I suppose that I now need to start thinking not just about what I don't want the world to see (not that there is lots to hide!), but what I want others to find online about me, and how that puts 'me' across as a person/potential employee/contact etc. So, lots more to think about, but a pretty positive experience all the same. Next week, keeping in 'the loop' and current awareness!
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