First self-googling attempt: pleasingly nothing came up for the most commonly used, and personal variant of my name (hurrah for my Fort-Knox-like facebook privacy settings!). Phew, no dodgy photos or malicious gossip. Embarrassing moments hidden from public view - Tick!
Second self-googling attempt: my full name and the addition of the keyword "Cambridge" brought up a wonderful, if brief, entry in the 2003 CULIB which I had never been aware of (chronicling my
Third self-googling attempt: using my online persona Lady Kenneth as the search term, my twitter account came as the fourth and fifth entries (after a car insurance company in the US, a Lady Gaga tribute video by some lovely chap named Kenneth and a preacher named Kenneth healing a lady) and this blog came fifth. Can't be too upset with that! However much I try, I don't think I will ever quite match Ms. Gaga's global popularity and relevance in any setting, professional or indeed sadly even personal.
I'm a great believer in anonymity on the web, personally it gives me the confidence to write honestly and with some humour, which I don't believe I could do under my actual name. My personal facebook account is completely locked down and hidden from view for exactly these reasons. I have only ever updated my facebook status a handful of times in the five years I have been a member as I just don't have the self-belief that others are/would be interested in the mundane details of my day.
I am the "admin" for the library facebook page and approach this by keeping the tone strictly professional and informative. Initially horrified at the idea of twitter, for I could not see why anyone would be interested in anything I was doing or reading, I have now completely fallen in love with it as an information dissemination tool. I chose to use my Lady Kenneth moniker to provide a semi-shield from view, but included a photo so that students knew that it was indeed a member of the library team. I think this works well as it is informal enough to converse with the students but the account's main purpose is to provide library/current affairs information. I have linked this blog and the twitter account by using an image from the library shelves as the wallpaper image and occasionally the same image is used as a profile pic on facebook.
I think I'm happy with my online brand but understand this may and probably will have to change as my career progresses.
Food for thought: I found this relevant post by a PPS alumnus, discussing the importance of recognising your cyber footprint and its possible implications for your future (or even current) career on his blog.
