When Creating a Professional Identity Online...

For one of my education classes, I was required to set up a professional Twitter account. Had I not done this for my job as an RA, the concept would've been completely foreign to me. Reflecting on both experiences, I've decided to compile a list of things I had to consider while setting them up:

• What picture should I use? One of the first things twitter asks you to do is customize your profile - this includes choosing a photo to represent yourself. One of the first things someone sees when looking at an account is your profile picture so this is important to consider. As twitter becomes a platform for professionals, more and more people are using professionally taken photos to represent themselves. These photos can be used not only on twitter but other professional accounts as well. I personally used an older but better quality photo of myself. 

• What do I put in my bio? Oh, the dreaded "about me" box. I've found that in these situations it's best to keep it simple - you're not writing your life story, just giving others a general perception of who you are. There are three parts to giving your audience an idea of who you are as a person, this is the first. It is important, however, to make sure you know how you want to represent yourself as a professional. Your bio is where others can get an idea of what you focus on and what kind of content (tweets, links, etc) you're going to bring to the table. 

• Who do I follow? With professional accounts it's important that you follow accounts that would be beneficial to you. Or, as my instructor put it, have a reason to follow them.  As an educator you can use your twitter to connect with other educators, find resources and engage in intellectual conversations. If your feed is full of things that aren't relevant to your field, it's hard to find what would actually help you. And although this bullet point may seem out of place, I would consider who you follow to be the third part of how people will get to know you on Twitter. 

• What do I share?  It's important to think about what information you should share as a professional. You want to be one of the accounts that people would find interesting and beneficial - you don't want to fill their feed with unnecessary posts but you also want to have a presence. I will most likely focus on educational resources, current events links, conversations, and quotes from authors. I would consider the content you share to be the second part of how people will get a feel for who you are. 

Although there were more things I took time to consider, the four listed above seemed like the most important. One main connection that I made while writing this post was that a lot of what I had to consider was about how I wanted others to perceive me as a professional. Which, I suppose, is something that is always important to keep in mind in a professional setting.