Manage My Online Professional Presence

Your online professional presence is made up of all the components of your professional, academic, and scholarly life online: publications, presentations, personal website, blogs, profiles on networking sites, social media accounts, and more. Another, shorter way to think of it is "what people find when they Google you." That makes Google a good starting point for you to assess your current online presence. When you do a Google search for yourself, what do you find?

• Is it easy to distinguish you and your work from others with the same or similar names?
• Is there outdated or missing information about your employment, professional affiliations, or current projects?
• Can you easily find a full list of your publications and presentations? Or, if you have shared a CV or resume online, is it current?
• Do you have old, unused profiles on social media or other networking websites?

Even if you haven't built a personal website or created a professional profile or social media account, there is almost certainly some information about you available online. There are many reasons to take a proactive and strategic approach to your online professional presence:

• To make your research, teaching, and professional service activities known more widely
• To ensure correct attributions to your research and teaching materials, and to increase the chance that these materials will be used and cited
• To provide contact information to potential collaborators, students, and media professionals looking for experts
• To make sure that as much of your work is counted in assessments as possible

1. Use a consistent name across all websites, publications. If you change your name, you can use ORCID to create a unique identifier and add all names you have used on your ORCID profile. Visit this guide's "Get an ORCID identifier page" to learn more.
2. Keep your CV or resume, webpages, and professional profiles consistent and up to date. Most importantly, provide current contact information and affiliations. 
3. Use a consistent profile picture across all platforms. VCU students can contact VCU Career Services to schedule an appointment for a professional headshot.
4. Find out what professional networking platforms are most commonly used in your discipline or profession. Don’t use platforms where your peers won’t see what you’re sharing.
5. Add current research interests, courses, or projects to your online profiles that give a more holistic picture of you and your work.
6. Don’t overdo it! Keep in mind the time needed to keep each profile or platform up to date or to create a steady stream of new content. This is especially important when it comes to blogs or social media accounts.
7. Put notifications on your calendar to periodically review and update your online presence.