Melissa Fortson Green (Gorgas Information Services) and Franky Abbott (ADHC) presented their “Creating and Managing Your Online Presence” today in the ADHC. Here is video of the workshop, their handout, and resources for more information (below).
Resources
Further Reading
- 2012-13 Career Guide (UA Career Center)
http://career.ua.edu/downloads/careerGuide/CareerGuide.pdf
This guide from the UA Career Center provides resources for career planning and the job search, including tips for Effective Online Networking. - Creating and Maintaining a Professional Presence Online: A Roundup and Reflection (ProfHacker)
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/creating-and-maintaining-a-professional-presence-online-a-roundup-and-reflection/43030
This post rounds up many useful articles on the topic of creating and maintaining a professional online presence. - Creating Your Web Presence: A Primer for Academics (ProfHacker)
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/creating-your-web-presence-a-primer-for-academics
Miriam Posner shares “some low-investment, high-return ways to maintain a consistent, professional Web presence.” - Do You Need Your Own Website While On The Job Market? (ProfHacker)
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/do-you-need-your-own-website-while-on-the-job-market
This piece from Jentery Sayers shares some thoughts on why graduate students might (or might not) create a personal website and offers a checklist for those who decide to do so. - The Google Yourself Challenge (MakeUseOf)
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/infographic-google-challenge/
How much can others learn about you from the internet? This infographic includes some statistics that may surprise you. - Personal Branding for Librarians (American Libraries)
http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/features/11062012/personal-branding-librarians
“Personal branding is more proactive and intentional than avoiding lampshade-on-the-head photos.” This article includes advice and resources for librarians. - Students, Here’s How to Kick-Start Your Personal Brand Online (Mashable)
http://mashable.com/2012/08/29/personal-branding-for-students/
Quick tips from career experts for high school and college students.
Tools
Blogs/websites
These free tools make it easy to create and maintain blogs and websites with no HTML experience required. More advanced users or those seeking additional features might consider Drupal (http://drupal.org/), Joomla (http://www.joomla.org/), or WordPress.org (http://wordpress.org/).
- Blogger: http://www.blogger.com
- Google Sites: https://sites.google.com/
- Tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com
- Weebly: http://www.weebly.com/
- Wix: http://www.wix.com/
Wix will be the focus of the next Lunchtime Learning workshop, to be held Wednesday, April 10, 12pm – 1pm, in the Alabama Digital Humanities Center (Gorgas Library Room 109A). - WordPress: http://wordpress.com/
- BrandYourself: http://brandyourself.com/
The BrandYourself service helps you “control Google search results for your name,” submit and “boost” positive links, monitor changes, and see which companies have viewed your profile.
Document-sharing sites
Document sharing sites rank highly in search results. Consider using Scribd (http://www.scribd.com/) to embed a resume on your blog or website and using SlideShare (http://www.slideshare.net/) to share your presentations.
- Activity Log
http://www.facebook.com/help/activitylog
Your activity log is a list of your Facebook posts and activity, along with stories and photos you’ve been tagged in. Dropdown menus next to each story allow you to adjust the privacy and control its visibility on your timeline. - Privacy
http://www.facebook.com/help/privacy
Information to help you control your sharing on Facebook. - A Guide to Facebook Privacy Options (WSJ)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324880504578300312528424302.html#project%3DFBPRIVACY0308%26articleTabs%3Dinteractive
Facebook privacy options change frequently, but here’s a recent guide from the Wall Street Journal.
- Dashboard
https://www.google.com/dashboard/
When signed in to your Google account, you can use the Dashboard to view and manage your personal information stored in various Google services. - “Me on the Web”
https://www.google.com/settings/me
When signed in to your Google account, you can search for yourself, have Google notify you when information abut you appears online, and review your Google profile, all from this page. - Profile
http://profiles.google.com/
Creating a Google profile is one of the easiest ways to create a distinct online identity for yourself.
- LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/
LinkedIn is a networking site for professionals. LinkedIn profiles are easy to complete and rank highly in search results.
People search
People search services (also known as peoplefinder sites), allow users to see lots of information about you, including your online profiles and photos. Consider using these tools to see what information about you is freely available online. UnlistMy.Info (http://unlistmy.info/) lists additional people search sites and offers directions on how to remove yourself from their results.
Personal homepages
These personal homepage sites (also known as microsites or splash pages) allow users to easily present bios, contact information, and links to social media channels.
- about.me: https://about.me/
- flavors.me: http://flavors.me/
- re.vu: http://re.vu/
SimpleWash
- SimpleWash: http://simplewa.sh/about
The SimpleWash app scans the content on your Facebook and Twitter profiles and detects keywords associated with things you might not want a potential employer to see.
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/
The more you use Twitter, the higher it will rank in the search results for your name. Think about what you want searchers to see when they look for you.
UA.edu
- IT Service Desk Web Publishing
http://oit.ua.edu/oit/services/it-service-desk/it-service-desk-web-publishing/
myBama account holders have access to web hosting on the bama.ua.edu server. - people.ua.edu
http://www.people.ua.edu/
The Office of Multimedia Services offers a simple tool UA faculty can use to create sites for professional use.