Comments on: Creating Your Social Media Identity

By: Erika von Hoyer

Erika von Hoyer — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:06:34 +0000

Lisa, some great tips and more importantly, you have a nice writing style so I actuall read the full post! ;-) Given all that our username represents (reputation, investment, character, …), I personally feel that identity verification can be an important step for building credibility and trust with others in social media circles.

I recently had my Twitter identity verified and am now in the process of getting a digital identity card (only parts of it have been made public.) I use Crederity (took avantage of the fact that personal identity and twitter identity are currently free of charge) – check it out: http://www.crederity.com/card/vonhoyer

While I’m by no means a celebrity, I believe protecting my username and online identity is an important step I can take as our society continues to move towards a dependency on User Generated Content.

Thanks for the tips!
Erika

By: Leah Creates

Leah Creates — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:17:54 +0000

Lisa – what a great read. You’re right about things like your avatar being extremely important. I was surprised to find out how much more interested people seemed in me on Twitter when I changed my avatar to a photo of me. Not only because it represented me as a person, but because I picked a photo where I’m wearing bright colors and I think that makes me stand out on a twitter stream. ;)

By: Dave Curtis

Dave Curtis — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:04:10 +0000

“The tips above can help you learn how to jump into the right circles. Or at minimum, they’ll keep you from being stuffed into lockers.”

Now you tell me??

By: goldendog

goldendog — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:29:38 +0000

This was a timely article which raised these questions. What about dual sm personalities your business self and your passionate hobby/sport self or by extension your family/friends self? The mixing and blending of the two together can at times seem awkward and clumsy.

Now here comes the questioning part—Is it wise or even possible to have two distinct online identities both using sm for their own inherent purposes? I use fb for my personal life and linkedin for my business life, but there are blurry areas in both. When Tweets, photos and blogs get mixed in twirled around into a real person.

If possible how is that successfully managed? Yesterday read in eweek.com about candidates’ FB activity impacting hiring managers decisions. 50% of the HR directors surveyed said that it was a positive factor in determining if the candidate fit into the culture of the company. http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Careers/Facebook-Activities-Haunting-Job-Seekers-385987/

All food for thought.

By: Asimkh

Asimkh — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:41:45 +0000

:) well, i always register same nick which brands me i.e. asimkh
and u can search on google to know whats my updates, its amazing to know
where internet digital life taken us.

By: Norcross

Norcross — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:50:46 +0000

I somewhat fell into my ‘username’, given that it’s my last name. I had always been referred to as ‘Norcross’ by my friends growing up, so it just seemed natural. And there aren’t that many of us, so I’ve only run into the name not being available once or twice. Granted, it’s also the name of the largest suburb of Atlanta. So the only thing that shows up on the first page of Google regarding me is Twitter, of all things. Searching my full name brings up a lot more.

And I agree 100% that I don’t need to be ‘real’ on-line at all times. There are certain things that are reserved for close friends, family, my wife, and in a few cases, no one at all.

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:24:34 +0000

Dylan, I think there’s room to be a well-rounded online persona. I am thinking of how I read some Shel Silverstein poems to my son the other day and most of them were hilarious, and then every once in awhile one was heart-wrenchingly sad.

They were all genuinely “Shel” in the sense that they were creative, offbeat, and made you think outside the box. I think you can have more than one facet of your online personality, it just has to be genuine and still “you”. Does that make sense?

By: Lisa Barone

Lisa Barone — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:14:07 +0000

Lori: Oh, I completely agree. I’m naturally snarky, so I think it’s pretty easy for me to translate that into online chat. However, I’m also a lot quieter in person and more likely to observe others than to jump into the action. I think people are actually a little taken back when they meet me that I’m not suddenly in their face yelling at them. :) And there’s definitely a niche for everyone. You just have to find yours.

Thanks for the comment!

Dylan: I think the idea is to create a character that resembles you, so that it still feels authentic and real. For example, I’m a lot louder online than I probably am in person. But I still have that snark in me and I can bring that out online in ways that are still true to “me”. It still sounds like me, I’m just putting more focus on a certain part of who I am. If…that makes sense…

By: Dylan Spencer

Dylan Spencer — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:09:42 +0000

Nice post Lisa. I like your thoughts on creating a character, but what if you slip out of that character? Does that make you seem less genuine and hurt your credibility?

By: Lisa Barone

Lisa Barone — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:07:28 +0000

Michael: Haha, that’s your super spidey chiropractor gene reacting to the pic. My bad. :)

Matt: Totally. Cover your bases from the beginning and suddenly things seem a lot more manageable. And thanks for dropping your Twitter avatar. Nice to match real names to tweeps I know! :)

Nathan: Thanks, Nathan. I think the caricature factor is really one of the most important parts of creating your identity online. It’s so important to both attracting people to you and, really, protecting yourself at the same time.