Employer listings

• Depending on the employer, you might have a company entry.
• Usually not directly controlled by you, not very flexible.
• Use it as needed, but if possible, link to your own main web presence.
• Examples:
  • Andreas Handel
  • Jim Rogers

Social Media

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.

• Widely used.
• Main use is social, not professional.
• Potentially good way to stay connected with others.
• Hard to keep professional and personal lives separated (unless you create 2 accounts).
• Some people use those sites for professional purposes. Less so in academia/research.
• Examples:
  • UGA Infant Research Lab/Janet Frick
  • Miss Excel

More social media

Mastodon, X/Twitter, etc.

• Twitter used to be good for learning about new developments in an area. COVID and Musk ruined it.
• Mastodon is the less toxic X alternative, not quite as good.
• If you engage, you need to decide if you want to mix professional and personal.
• Consciously decide on the topics you will engage with.
• Learn ‘the rules’ (tweet/re-tweet/reply/like/hashtags/etc.).

Blogging sites

Medium, Substack, etc.

• Platforms for blog posts.
• They promote posts, you can reach a wider audience than on your personal blog.
• You can potentially get paid.
• Not all content is freely available, some is behind a paywall.
• Not as much control as on your own website.
• Examples:
  • Kristian Lum
  • Melanie Mitchell

Podcasts

• Very popular these days.
• Seem like a lot of work (though maybe less than Youtube).
• Be clear about goals and commitment (e.g. format/posting frequency) before you start.
• Examples:
  • Not so Standard Deviations
  • Casual Inference

Academia/Science specific sites

• Google Scholar
• ORCID
• ResearchGate
• Academia.edu
• Mendeley
• ImpactStory
• Publons
• …

Google Scholar

• Only for publications (broadly speaking).
• Gives citation metrics.
• Is fairly automated, you have to do very little.
• Great way to keep track of your papers.
• Examples:
  • Natalie Dean
  • Catherine Beauchemin

If I want to get a quick idea what research someone does in academia, I check their Google Scholar page. If they don’t have one, I’m annoyed.

ORCID

• Gives you a unique ID to track your research productivity.
• Used by a lot of journals.
• Very useful if you have a (slightly) common name (but even if not).
• Free and not-for-profit.
• If you plan on staying in academia/research, you should set up ORCID.
• Examples:
  • Stephanie Eick
  • Andrew Heiss

ResearchGate/Academia/Mendeley/etc.

• Types of academic social network sites.
• All are commercial (as far as I know).
• You have various levels of control of how your profile looks like.
• Examples:
  • Stephanie Eick

ImpactStory/Kudos/Publons/etc.

• Sites that try to measure your ‘impact’.

• Maybe fun, but I haven’t found them too useful (yet).

• As metrics beyond grants/papers become more important, sites like these might become more useful.

• Examples:

  • Alison Hill
  • Andreas Handel

Own website

• You have complete control.
• You have to build and maintain it yourself.
• Lot’s of ways to do that. Many are free.

Website builders

• Google Sites, Wordpress, Wix,…
• Some free, some paid, some ads
• Limited flexibility for free versions
• Usually easy to use
• Examples:
  • Katia Koelle (Wordpress)
  • Micaela Martinez (Wordpress)
  • Emily Ricotta (Wix)

Build your own

• Using some software stack to make your own website
• More flexibility
• Usually a bit more technically challenging
• Fairly easy these days using Quarto
• Examples:
  • Zane Billings
  • Jadey Ryan
• Resources:
  • Nice tutorial and a short summary

Have a plan

• Decide what you want to be known for, create and curate content accordingly.
• Start with an overall goal/idea for your site(s) before you create them.
  • Why are you doing this?
  • What do you (not) want to put out there?
  • What do you (not) want to be known for?
  • Who is (not) your audience?
  • What is (not) the purpose of your online presence?

Be picky

• Give some thought to the platforms you want to (not) use.
• Better have fewer online outlets that you keep up-to-date with good quantity/quality content than being on too many platforms.
• You don’t need to duplicate, e.g. you can/should link sites (e.g. link to your Google Scholar publications from LinkedIn).
• Adopt the platforms that work for you (e.g. LinkedIn vs. Youtube vs. Blog vs. TikTok vs…)

Be consistent

• In general, stick to “your” topics. If you are known for topics X and Y, the decision to talk about Z should be planned/deliberate.
• Start simple/easy/slow, then ramp up. Better an update a month than a month long ‘binge’ followed by a year of no updates.
• Be consistent. One blog post/video/piece of content a week for a year is better than 52 in a single week and nothing else after that.

Occasional changes in overall content/structure/frequency are ok, but try to be deliberate.

Content is king

• You can spend/waste a lot of time fiddling with the layout and styling (trust me, I’ve done that).
• In the end, good content is what matters most.
• Examples:
  • Jeff Leek
  • Seth Godin

If in doubt, make it public

• Anything that might be useful to others (or your future self) is worth putting out there.
• Things don’t always need to be polished, but you should have some minimum standard of quality.

Some advertising is needed

• If people don’t find you, your impact is low.
• Cross-link to your various online locations.
• Use platforms to promote your content (e.g. LinkedIn).
• Don’t worry too much about search engine optimization (SEO). If you create good and persistent content, you should soon show up on top.

Keep track (a little bit)

• Set Google alerts for your name (or other keywords).
• Consider measuring your impact (e.g. Site visits, Software downloads, Twitter followers, GitHub stars).
• Those metrics can be useful for career advancement, but don’t get too hung up about them.
• Examples:
  • DSAIDE R package

Warnings

• Anything you put online is there “forever”, even if you delete it later.
• Be professional, even if you decide to post content that’s not directly career related.
• Online can be a HUGE time and attention suck!

Always be mindful of the ultimate reason for having an online presence/brand. Let that guide the quality and quantity of your online activities.

Summary

You need an online presence that you control.

• Minimum: Decent LinkedIn site, maybe augmented with Google Scholar or similar.
• Better: Also own website with links to your other online outlets.
• Advanced: Also become active on certain platforms (regular blogs/videos/podcasts/tweets, etc.).