Getting Started on Social MediaFive simple steps will help establish your account as legitimate and memorable. Whether you use Mastodon, BlueSky, or another social media site to share your work, these tips apply!
Your user name is how you will be identified on social media. User names are unique and can sometimes (but not always) be changed. A user name based on your real name is a good idea if you plan to use social media professionally but isn't a necessity. Adding something related to your area of study can also make a user name memorable, professional, and fun. Check out the examples below for inspiration:
Promote your field or subject of study like @AndyBugGuy
(Andrew Warren, Entomologist)
Make a pun with your name like @goodgracious23
(Grace Wilkinson, Limnologist & Ecosystem Ecologist)
Set the tone and stand apart like @thetattooedprof
(Kevin Gannon, educational developer and historian)
Declare your expertise like @ProfJhangiani
(Rajiv Jhangiani, Vice Provost at Brock University)
Claim your name like @saragoldrickrab
(Sara Goldrick-Rab, professor of Education Policy and Sociology)
Get rid of the default profile picture! Users associate it with "newbies" and "spammers." You don't have to use a photo of yourself but doing so will help people identify you, both online and off.
Providing your name, or a variation of your name, will help others locate and identify you as an individual. Both user names and names are searchable, but names are not unique since there are multiple people in the world with the same name.
Just like the profile photo, you need to have something here for your account to look legitimate. Try to add short info about yourself such as research interests, where you work or study, hobbies, pets, favorite foods, etc. Pro tip: you can use emojis!
This one comes last because it's not essential but it's easy so you might as well. Choose an image that reflects one of your interests, fits the size, and will help others remember who you are.
Want more? The 2024 article, "Navigating Bluesky: A Researcher's Quick Guide to Building Your Academic Network" is really helpful!
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Hashtags (
): are words and phrases (without spaces) preceded by a # appended to a tweet to mark it as related to that topic. They can define sub-communities and provide easy topic navigation. Example academic and research hashtags include:
How do you find new hashtags to use? See what important people in your field are using in their posts, and check out what your professional organizations are using. Often when an organization or association holds a conference, they assign a specific hashtag for attendees to use. It's a great way to share out information from the presentations you're attending, or to follow along from home if you're not able to go that year.
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