We started our video this week with a suggestion to quickly Google yourself. Depending on what results come up for you, you might be happy with the results or horrified! Take this opportunity to close any accounts that you're not using or at least make them a bit more hidden. There's nothing worse than someone trying to find you and getting an old LinkedIn account that you haven't updated in five years and shows really old information for you.
We all access the online world in different ways with some of us sharing everything about our lives while others keep things a bit more private. The extent to which you share, or don't share, is almost always your choice so do not feel pressured to share beyond what you are comfortable with. However, having an online presence of some description to connect people with you and your work is an important aspect to consider.
We covered several tools in our video: ORCID is the unique alphanumeric ID; WordPress is a good place to start if you want to set up a free blog; Twitter is a social media platform that most people have heard of; and you can use Google Scholar to build yourself an author profile.
Try out one of the tools or services we've mentioned. For example, you can set up a Twitter account or get started with ORCID. If you are already using one of these tools, maybe take some time to check that they are up-to-date and reflect what you want to share. Once you've had an explore, reflect on your experience using our interactive tool below.
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If you have any questions or want to speak to someone about this topic in more detail, email the Biological Sciences Libraries Team and we will be able to chat with you about your online presence.
For a more in-depth look at developing your online presence, the American Psychological Association has a great talk on this topic.
The University of Cambridge's Office of Scholarly Communication has a page on different online tools you can use to build your online presence. They also offer an in-depth look at building your profile.
For some advice from authors of the book 'Communicating your research with Social Media', have a look at this Times Higher Educational article.