Over the past week we experimented with a new series called “Yesterday in #StudentAffairs” as a way to capture, and re-purpose, the amazing amount of knowledge that flows through #SAchat every day. We originally used a person’s Twitter username to give them credit, which worked fine when their real name and Twitter username were basically the same thing. But when the person’s Twitter name was something totally different like @sunnysuzysunday or @ramblingmythoughts, it felt odd using it as a citation on the post because it didn’t feel like a credible source. So we switched to using everyone’s real name that is attached to their Twitter account and then hyperlinking back to their Twitter account.
It reminds me of my first email address back in highschool where I picked something that I thought was fun and creative, but then as I got older, realized that school admission officers, employers, etc. didn’t think the same way, so I switched to my real name and have stuck with it ever since.
Most schools do a pretty good job of teaching students to be aware of what their email address is, but we need to extend that education to all our public online accounts.
It’s your choice to use something besides your real name for your online persona, but know that others may react to it in a different way than you want them to.
Can’t get your real name as your username? Try
– Tom.Krieglstein
– TomKrieglstein1
– Tom_Krieglstein
– TomKrieglsteinOnline
