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WHAT IS A SOCIAL MEDIA IDENTITY?

Your social media identity consists of:

• Photos

• Videos

• Text

• Includes what other have posted in addition to your own posts

(Alberta Government ALIS, 2014)

(Aaron, 2014)

WHY DO YOU NEED TO PROTECT YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA IDENTITY?

“Recent research reveals that identity theft affects millions of people a year, costing victims countless hours and money in identity recovery and repair. What causes this pattern of online theft and fraud? It’s a combination of factors: a lack of consumer knowledge regarding protecting your identity online, growing comfort with and trust in, social platform providers; the need for social platforms to generate revenue; and a lack of standards or policing of these standards.” (Lewis, 2014)

TYPE

S OF

SOCIAL M

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IDENTI

TIES

Social Media

Identity

PersonalAddress

Social insurance numberCredit card numbers

Drivers license number

Professional

Business partnersStakeholders

Co-workers/employees

Type of social media identity

What/who does this include?

WHY IS PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA IDENTITY MANAGEMENT ESSENTIAL

Person social media identity can affect:

• Friends

• Family

• Relationships

• Identity Theft

TYPES OF IDENTITY THEFT

(Colon, 2012)

“When it comes to stalking or stealing an identity, use of photo- and video-sharing sites like Flickr and YouTube provide deeper insights into you, your family and friends, your house, favorite hobbies and interests.” (Lewis, 2014)

(Identity Theft Protection, N/A)

The following profile elements can be used to steal or misappropriate your identity:• Full name (particularly your middle name)• Date of birth (often required)• Home town• Relationship status• School locations and graduation dates• Pet names• Other affiliations, interests and hobbies

(Lewis, 2014)

WHY IS PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL MEDIA IDENTITY MANAGEMENT ESSENTIAL

In this era of technology, social media has a significant role in professional development. Potential employees are using social media to screen new applicants.

“Social media for hiring purposes is at an all-time high: 92 percent of companies use platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for recruitment, and 45 percent of Fortune 500 firms include links to social media on their career page sections.” (Bennett, 2013)

(Bennett, 2013)

(Bennett, 2013)

CREATIN

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MANAGING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA IDENTITY

• Using your real name: This is something every user needs to consider carefully when signing up for online services and establishing profiles. If you are using the site for professional use, it's probably a good idea to use something that is appropriate for the workplace and ensure that you are identified as the real you. However for many other online services you could decide to use an alias to protect your privacy.

• Choose appropriate aliases or screen names: Consider your audience and ensure that you are using something appropriate. Remember that Google makes it easy to connect your various online profiles via search, so this is an important issue.

(SWSI, 2012)

MANAGING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA IDENTITY

• Publish appropriate profile pictures: Choose images which are professional and appropriate. Consider using graphics for your avatar if you have concerns about privacy and publishing images of yourself online.

• Include bio information which is relevant, up to date and accurate. A few short well-written sentences that describe you is much better than a 3 page description!

• When filling out profile fields like personal 'likes' and favourites, ensure that you choose answers that you’d say if someone asked you for your favorite in a face-to-face conversation. If it's not ok to share with your friends or colleagues offline, you probably shouldn't share it online!

(SWSI, 2012)

MANAGING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA IDENTITY

• Be discreet with the words and images you share online about yourself and others.

• Choose your social media friends with care. If you wouldn’t have coffee with them, don’t include them in your network. What the people in your social media network share about you could potentially damage your reputation.

• Take control of your social media identity. How you use a website’s privacy settings can affect how much others can learn about you. Find out about the privacy settings on each social networking website you subscribe to, and use them to control who can access your profile and which parts of your profile they can access.

(Alberta Government ALIS, 2014)

MANAGING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA IDENTITY

• Develop boundaries between your work and your personal life by creating one profile on Facebook for family and friends and another on LinkedIn or other social media sites for your professional network. 

• Proofread the information on your profile or ask a trusted friend or family member to do so.

• Follow the same etiquette for social media networking that you would in networking face to face.

(Alberta Government ALIS, 2014)

MAINTAINING A POSITIVE SOCIAL MEDIA IDENTITY

• When you increase your positive presence in social media, you ensure negative or unprofessional information about you gets a lower ranking in search engine results. Try these suggestions:

• Link from your social media profile to the web pages of groups, teams or projects you’re involved in.

• Use websites like YouTube and My Space to promote projects related to your work or volunteer activities. If it’s appropriate, make sure your name is included in the information.

• Make search engine optimization (SEO) work for you. SEO is the process that selects how items are ranked in search results and it responds well to blogs and mini-blogs. Your own blog and your responses to other blogs will likely be highly ranked in search results.

• Follow and comment on professional and volunteer related blogs.

(Alberta Government ALIS, 2014)

REFERENCES

Alberta Government ALIS. (2014, N/A N/A). eProducts and services, Tip Sheets. Retrieved 07 01, 2014, from Alberta Learning Information Services: https://alis.alberta.ca/ep/eps/tips/tips.html?EK=12449

Lewis, K. (2014, N/A N/A). How Social Media Networks Facilitate Identity Theft and Fraud. Retrieved 07 01, 2014, from Entrepreneurs Organization: http://www.eonetwork.org/octane-magazine/special-features/social-media-networks-facilitate-identity-theft-fraud/

Bennett, S. (2013, 10 16). 92% Of Companies Use Social Media For Recruitment. Retrieved 07 01, 2014, from Media Bistro: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-recruiting_b50575

SWSI. (2012, N/A N/A). Create Online Identity. Retrieved 07 01, 2014, from South West Sydney Institute: http://socialnetworking.swsi.wikispaces.net/CreateOnlineIdentity

IMAGE REFERENCES

Aaron, J. (2014, 03 11). 7 vital social media strategies for small businesses. Retrieved 07 01, 2014, from Business 2 Community: http://www.business2community.com/small-business/7-vital-social-media-strategies-small-businesses-0807161#!6VuSD

Colon, L. (2012, 03 21). ID Theft infographic. Retrieved 07 01, 2014, from You Can Learn: http://www.youcanlearn.com/protect-yourself-with-identity-theft-detection-and-identity-repair-tools/id-theft-2/

Bennett, S. (2013, 10 16). 92% Of Companies Use Social Media For Recruitment. Retrieved 07 01, 2014, from Media Bistro: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-recruiting_b50575

Identity Theft Protection. (N/A, N/A N/A). 47 Identity Theft Horror Stories. Retrieved 07 01, 2014, from Identity Theft Protection: http://www.identitytheftprotection.net/47-identity-theft-horror-stories/