Most people are on social media but very few really take the time and think about what they leave behind when they move through the digital spaces. This is a presentation I give to Ithaca College students to help them understand and reclaim their digital identities.
6. Real World vs Virtual World
There are no barriers anymore.
7. Guidelines for posting
Don’t post photos/videos with drugs or drug
paraphernalia.
If you’re under 21, don’t post photos/videos
with alcohol.
– Exception: visiting a country with a lower
legal drinking age.
If you’re 21+, don’t post photos/videos of
binge drinking.
– i.e. funnels, multiple drinks/shots,
drinking games, being passed out, etc.
13. How do you take control of your identity?
Create a “brand” for yourself
14. How do you take control of your identity?
Make your brand consistent
– @colleenomeara
– @mikeoneill76
15. How do you take control of your identity?
Google yourself.
– Do this in an
incognito
browser
16. How do you take control of your identity?
Submit your site to Google
– Add your url
17. How do you take control of your identity?
Download your tweets
18. How do you take control of your identity?
Personal vs. Professional accounts
Keep accounts open to the public
– Except Facebook
19. How do you take control of your identity?
View your Facebook profile as “public”
20. How do you take control of your identity?
Be yourself and be authentic
21. How do you take control of your identity?
Understand how each platform is used.
– Facebook
– Snapchat
– Instagram
– Twitter
– Yik Yak
– LinkedIn
• Keep your profile up-to-date
22. Merit
Thousands of college students share their achievements
online with Merit.
1. Claim the IC Merit page that
has been created for you at
ithaca.meritpages.com/
2. Add other achievements:
internships, volunteer work,
and projects.
3. Share your achievements
with family and friends on
social networks or via email.
The IC Media Relations team knows you’re doing great things.
They will occasionally:
• Add verified achievements and stories to your Merit page.
• Share the news with your hometown newspapers.
23. Who’s doing it right?
Shannon Samuels ’16
– Business Administration
24. Who’s doing it right?
Chelsea Hartman ‘15
– CMD major
“.@CNBCSocial I've got the skills, creativity,
and passion for social media that you’re
looking for in an intern!
http://about.me/chelshartman”
25. Who’s doing it right?
Brian Nock ‘13
– Civil Engineering major, Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute
26. Think before you post
Understanding what
you post and how
information makes
up your digital
identity will help you
shape that identity
into one you will
want employers to
see.
What is said about
you could last
forever.
Introduce ourselves and our titles
Mike says: Welcome to our presentation on understanding your digital identity. Otherwise known as…
Colleen says: STAHP!... don’t be dumb.
MIKE: Your digital identity is the online identity that you claim as your own. Just like how we can have different identities with different people or groups of people (your identity with your parents is very different from that with your friends), you can have multiple digital identities but they all make up you as a person online. Social media is no longer just personal development, but also professional development.
MIKE:
This includes apps as well as more traditional web spaces like browsers.
These are the bread crumbs that we leave as we navigate through the digital space.
COLLEEN:
Every:
Like
Retweet
Regram
Tag
Swipe left
Emoji typed
Literally any action you take in the digital space has a part in making up your identity.
MIKE:
It used to be that you had a natural barrier between the pictures that you took.
First you’d take the picture.
Then you’d migrate the pictures from your camera to your computer.
Then you could upload the pictures that you wanted.
That amount of time it took to upload the pictures would give you time to consider which ones were more appropriate to post.
MIKE:
Now everything is instant. Cameras are on phones and apps using those cameras makes everything instant. Which is great for showing what’s happening in the moment but it doesn’t provide us with that natural barrier we need to sometimes decide what we should or shouldn’t be uploading. We’ve gone from a ready-aim-fire society to a ready-fire-aim society and it’s not just pictures that get us in trouble.
COLLEEN:
These are some of the guidelines that we’ve given our Street Team members in order to help them know what’s appropriate to post.
MIKE WILL INTERJECT:
Just as an aside, posting pictures of yourself with drugs or drug paraphernalia could lead to you losing your financial aid due to federal guidelines so you have to be really careful about that.
COLLEEN:
Talking about going to London last semester when she was 20 and how these are appropriate pictures because the drinking age was 18+.
COLLEEN:
We would suggest not posting pictures of you using pizza as a pillow on the sidewalk.
[Definitely feel free to talk about relating to wanting to post party pictures but understanding how it would look if anyone saw them.]
MIKE:
This is an example of an actual tweet that was sent. Even though the tweeter sent this out of frustration and didn’t really mean it, we had to treat it as a serious threat. Picking your words carefully is especially important on Twitter when you’re limited to 140 characters.
Library of Congress is working on creating an archive of every tweet ever posted since Twitter was created in 2006.
Talk about tone of voice too.
MIKE:
As noted earlier, you can have multiple digital identities depending on the platform and how you use it. The identity that we use when anonymous, many times can be the more truer version of ourselves. But being unfiltered in a public space can sometimes lead to trouble.
MIKE:
Despite the fact that Yik Yak and other apps like it are “anonymous”, they do track who sends posts. This way law enforcement can find anyone who makes a physical threat against others or against themselves.
----- Meeting Notes (10/5/15 18:13) -----
Philadelphia area schools were put on lock down due to a threat that came from someone on the website 4Chan on Oct. 4.
COLLEEN:
Find a subject that you can speak about on Twitter, a certain photo style on Instagram, show off your snap art on Snapchat, or create really compelling videos on YouTube.
COLLEEN:
Separate into three different slides.
COLLEEN:
Separate into three different slides.
COLLEEN:
Separate into three different slides.
COLLEEN:
Separate into three different slides.
COLLEEN and MIKE:
The catch with having a personal and a professional account is that people tend to let their guard down on the personal account and post things that may hurt what they’ve built on their professional account. Remember, everything that post affects the brand you’re building for yourself.
The same goes for private accounts. Someone could screen shot a tweet or a snap and post it publicly.
COLLEEN:
Separate into three different slides.
MIKE:
Let your personality come through on your social accounts.
MIKE:
Facebook is meant to be locked down but check your settings so you know what can be seen publicly. Don’t change your name on Facebook when you’re interviewing. Employers want to be able to see that you have a profile and what they can see. If they see you’ve changed your name, they may wonder what you have to hide and it may adversely affect you.
Keep Facebook personal. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is always up to date. Let your quirkiness come through on Snapchat and Yik Yak. Show you’re a thought leader around a certain subject on Twitter. Perfect a certain photo style on Instagram.
The more proficient you can be on each platform you’re on, the more people will see you as an expert on those platforms.
MIKE:
When people Google your name, this is one of the first things that come up.
Set up to automatically have a Merit account to send to your LinkedIn.
MIKE:
Shannon is a trainer in the IC chapter of Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Her first puppy takeover (she’s done two now) was so successful, it gained the attention of the National Guiding Eyes for the Blind organization and they were so impressed, they offered her an internship in their marketing department.
COLLEEN:
Chelsea was able to get an interview for this internship through this tweet. She made it all the way to an offer for the internship.
COLLEEN:
Chelsea was able to get an interview for this internship through this tweet. She made it all the way to an offer for the internship.
MIKE:
Anything you do online, you should be willing to take ownership of. If an employer doesn’t want to employ you because they’re not a fan of the sports team you like, that’s ok with you. If an employer doesn’t want to employ you because of the drinking photos, that could be embarrassing.
It IS ok to have a photo of you holding a drink when you’re over 21. Just make sure to tote the line between a nice picture at a bar/party and a picture that’s sloppy with lots of bottles around.
----- Meeting Notes (10/5/15 18:34) -----
Add ideas of how to complain on Twitter. Show that nuance of walking the line.
- Ask instead of being trolly.
Brandyourself.com (it filters yourself as you google yourself)
Look up Jessica Kane's Twitter account (from the Huffington Post). She's a good example of a personal and professional account. She's funny.
It's ok to show pictures of you having fun. Just