Social media over periods of transition

So if you know anything about my “professional” life, you know that this blog has been quiet so that I can focus on my primary goal– achieving admission into a PhD program in Cognitive Psychology.  As I prepare for the considerable life changes that will accompany the segue from undergraduate to graduate study, any casual reader of this blog might wonder: what sort of social media transition process might there be as one makes a significant next step?

As I see it, a successful social media transition requires three steps: 1) determine goals, 2) simplify services, and 3) manage branding and privacy.

Determine goals: what is changing?

For a successful shift, one should first consider their current social media strategy.  Mine, for instance, is centered primarily around this blog, with an additional effort to have an account on every other service that strikes me as remotely meaningful.  As a college undergraduate, this is a viable plan of action, but moving on to a position in graduate school, much like taking on a new job, requires a heightened sense of professionalism.  As my public role becomes one of scholarship and research, my primary web stronghold needs to reflect this fact.

Simplify services: unnecessary distractions must go

Once a general plan of action has been formed, it’s time to eliminate any distractions within the system.  As a student, for instance, there’s much less reason to focus on FriendFeed– since carefully monitoring popular web media is no longer of interest, this sort of service could comfortably fall by the wayside.  A transition provides the perfect opportunity to separate the social media wheat from the chaff.

Manage branding and privacy: control your Web presence

A natural extension of the prior principles is the importance of carefully managing the Internet face you share with the world.  If someone’s looking for a graduate researcher, for instance, and they find this website, they might be confused as to what my primary occupation truly is.  Likewise, a transition provides an excellent opportunity to double-check or sanitize all handles, usernames, and other such pointers so that they are consolidated into appropriate categories.

Do you have any particular experiences regarding managing your social media services as you transition from one phase of life to another?  Please share them!

It’s only appropriate, too, that I announce now that this site will soon be moving to another, to-be-announced domain.  Stay tuned for more details!

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