Setting your online footprint
2
__ Movin' On • In • • • nine rl Whet her you are aware of it or not, each time you post something on the Int e rn et yo u are co ntributing to your onl ine pr esen ce. This onli ne presence is basically who )' OU arc to anyone who looks you Li p or sees somcthi ng al out you on the Web . People would fincl it crazy to leave the house without complete dothing on as wc are ve ry awa re of our physical presence, ye t seldom do we consicl er what co ns titute s a complete and use ful online presence. To educate us on this matter, Octav Dru ta ('07) shares the be nefi ts and pitfaU s of managin g, what he likes to call, our online footprint. F irst of all . huild i ng yo ur onlin e prese nce is a choice. You ca n choose (0 take aCl i on s online, like u txb t ing your hlng, upload ing pil:tu rc s, co mmenting on a friend's post {'If t wee t abom \\lhac yo u arc doing. I-I ml./ evcr, most people don't th ink about their online presence as a choice. Dr iven by curi os ity and a !l ew to cO llllllunicar c, Illost of us blindly part icipate in various o nlin e cO llllll uni ti cs and wchsites such as Faccbook, Multipl y, Flicker. Linkcdln, Bl ogspot, etc. \N har docs this mi s hm ash (If infor mation say about you? Goog lc you r name SOYOll can st art being aware of what im age yo u have un in tem ion3lly created . I r you \\lould Ii kc to Ix in cont rol or this representation or yo urself. here arc some ques ti ons and ans\-\'crs dut can open up your perspective about managing and building a s li ccessrul web presence. Q: Why do I need an online presence? A: Eve ryone has their own needs. wheth er it is to keep in touch wit h co ll ege fri ends around the wo rld, p roj ect 42 a .... uccess rul image for proslXcrive emp loyees, share your thoughts and in sights to t he wo rld at brge or anything dse that wo uld co nt ribute to the quality of your life. The why is no t important. what is im portant is that lh ere is a w hy fo r eV('rything yo u do online. In general. a well developed o nUn e prcsem:e i" us dul fo r managing peoplc's perceptions of you. You want them to get an im pression that matches v. ' ha Lyou intendt'(l to project in rhe fi rst place. It wo ul d be wise to think lwice before sharing somcthing online without any intention. Q: What If someone else shares somethin g about me online? A: Com an that someone and kindly ask them to remove it. keeping in ["ni nd the fact that nobody asked for y our pe rmi ssion beforehand. Q: Where should I be online? How many profiles are necessary? , A: This depends on your needs and pur poses. The online world can be viewed as a huge hub for co nv crs<l tion s. Co n ve rsarions t ake place in various contexrs. If yo u want to co nn ect with bus in ess pcnple choose a bus in ess c ontext (e.g: I inkedln , Xing. Ecadcmy). If yo u want [0 s ha re you r art por tr o li o chose an art context (Behance. Dcv iantArr). H you want [0 share your dreams be in sp ired by the dreams of orhers choose T rigwee. (One network where > 'ou certainly should not be missing is of course AlmaLink, rhe exclusivc Jacobs Alumni platfnfln.) If yo u're CUriOllS to fin d out abo ul t he mm, L popular con texlS onlin e, google " th e com 'e rsaLion prism". Hrian Sol is wrote some \'ery in sightful articles about thiq topic. Q: What about more real- time forms of communica - tion such as Twitter? A: One of the interesting thin gs aboutTwilt er is [hat yo u can search rhe convcrsations of milli ons of people a nd n' cc i ve re sui ts in rcal,time (i .e. as Sl-..o n as someone w ri tes something on t he topic }'O ll were .search iJ1g for. you ca n sec that result in your search). Gc tting feedback from your foll owers or find ing out what your fri ends a rc do ing has never bt'Cn fa ster. One can usc T\\"irter for m. my pU 'l X)SCS . It's up [0 you to decide \vhat purpose fits in thc cockwi l 01your on li ne p re s ence. Ilx rso na.Uy use it to share articles. market my startup, ask for feedback, and sometimes, I usc it as a tTa vcll og. Q: What are the perils of not updating old Informa· tlon? t\: To re iterate. on the In ternet. per ception is reality - in ot hc r words : what peo pl e read a bout you is tr ue for
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An article featured in "Beyond the Pond" the Jacobs University Alumni Magazine Issue 5 - Fall 2009
Transcript of Setting your online footprint
__ Movin' On
• In
• • • nine rl
W hether you are aware of it or not, each time you post something on the Internet you are contributing to your onl ine presence. This onli ne presence is basically who )'OU arc to anyone w ho looks you Lip or sees somcthi ng al out you on the Web. People would fincl it crazy to leave the house without complete dothing on as wc are ve ry aware of our physical presence, yet seldom do we consicler what constitutes a complete and useful online presence. To educate us on this matter, Octav Druta ('07) sha res the benefits and pitfaUs of managing, what he likes to call, our online footprint.
First of all . huild ing your online presence is a choice. You can choose (0 take aCl ions online, like utxbt ing your hlng, upload ing pil:turcs, commenting on
a friend 's pos t {'If tweet abom \\lhac you arc doing. I-Iml./ evcr, most people don't th ink about their online presence as a cho ice. Driven by cu riosity and a !lew to cOllllllunicarc, Illost o f us blindly part icipate in va rious online cOllllll uni tics and wchsites such as Faccbook, Multiply, Flicker. Linkcdln , Blogspot, etc. \N har docs this mishmash (If infor mation say about you?
Googlc you r name SOYOll can start being aware of what im age you have un in temion3lly created. I r you \\lould Ii kc to Ix in control or this representation or yourself. here arc some questions and ans\-\'crs dut can open up your perspective about managing and building a sliccessrul web presence.
Q: Why do I need an online presence? A: Everyone has their own needs. whether it is to keep in touch with college friends around the world , project
42
a .... uccessrul image for proslXcrive employees, share your thoughts and insights to t he world at brge or anything dse that would contribute to the quality of your life. The why is not important. what is important is that lhere is a
why fo r eV('rything you do online.
In general. a wel l developed onUne prcsem:e i" usdul for managing peoplc's perceptions of you. You want them to get an impression that matches v.'haL you intendt'(l to project in rhe fi rst place. It would be wise to th ink lwice before sharing somcthing online without any intention.
Q: What If someone else shares something about me online? A: Coman that someone and kind ly ask them to remove it. keeping in ["ni nd the fact that nobody asked for your permiss ion beforehand.
Q: Where should I be online? How many profiles are necessary?
,
A: This depends on your needs and purposes. The online world can be viewed as a huge hub for convcrs<ltions. Con ve rsarions take place in various contexrs. If you want to
connect w ith business pcnple choose a business context (e.g: I inkedln , Xing. Ecadcmy). If yo u want [0 sha re your art portrolio chose an art context (Behance. DcviantArr). H you want [0 share your dreams ~md be inspired by the dreams of orhers choose T rigwee. (One network where >'ou certainly should not be missing is of course AlmaLink, rhe exclusivc Jacobs Alumni platfnfln.)
If you're CUriOllS to find out aboul t he mm,L popular con texlS online, google "the com'ersaLion prism". Hrian Solis wrote some \'ery insightful articles about thiq topic.
Q: What about more real-time forms of communication such as Twitter? A: One of the interesting things aboutTwilter is [hat you can search rhe convcrsations of millions of people and n'cc ive re suits in rcal, time (i .e. as Sl-..on as someone w ri tes something on the topic }'Oll were .searchiJ1g for. you can sec that result in your search). Gctting feedback from your followers or find ing out what your friends arc doing has never bt'Cn fas ter. One can usc T\\"irter for m.my pU'lX)SCS. It's up [0 you to decide \vhat purpose fits in thc cockwi l 01 your on li ne pres ence. Ilxrsona.Uy use it to share articles. market my startup, ask for feedback, and sometimes, I usc it as a tTavcllog.
Q: What are the perils of not updating old Informa· tlon? t\: To re iterate. on the In ternet . perception is rea lity -in othcr words: w hat people read about you is true for
The "Conversation Plis ma" hy St.x ial media gurus Brian Soli <; and Jesse: Thomas \' isualizes the many communication services av:lil
able on the i[1[crncr (hrtp://theconvcrsationprism.com) .
•
'" t.t.tlC
them. If you involuntariJy c reated a fragme nted online footprinr, the
people that search for informar ion about you online might inte rpret those fragments in a wrong way.
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Q: What are the easy ways to keep track of all the things you share online?
E"ent s_ ..,
A: The easiest \va)' is to cnn ~
nect a ll your on line pres Documents I ---t
Content
cnccs is to usc an ~ppl italian such as Fr icndFccd \vhkh is a ~ Urcstrc.1m inp;" \vcb ap pli c.1
tion. Li fcs tre.1 ming is an online record of a pe rson's da ily activi
tics t hat is created by aggregat ing someone's online contcnt . If you want to take it one step fur ther, you can usc your FricndFccd on your Faeebook account or embed a \vidget (bas ically a box that shows
information) with your lifestrcam on your hlog.
On the I ntL'rnct, you arc what you share. Thc sec ret to bUilding a great online presence is to set up a d ream of how you ... vant to look like on thc net, v,fhich is dri ven by a strong motivation. an answer to the question: "\Vhy do I want to look like that ?" and have clcarly defined , measurablc goals for
what you \"'ant to ac hieve w ith your presence . •
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