As I stare at my computer and hope I suddenly have an epiphany, on how I can cultivate my digital presence. I hear laughter from my kids, they are on their phones smiling, laughing and showing each other videos. I hear my son say, “Alyssa you need to hook me up with Tiktok, I can dance better then all of them” my daughter responds with “Jett no one wants to see an eight-year-old dance, let’s dance together”. My first question was why is Tiktok so popular? and where did it come from? My son filled me in; apparently, he did some online research and it originated in China and it has been banned in some countries like India; however, everyone who is everyone is on Tiktok. I asked him how he knows this, and he said, “Mom Siri knows everything” Those words resonated with me “Mom Siri knows everything” obviously Siri has a huge Digital presence in the world as she is accessible to anyone anytime. How can I increase my digital presence? I know that I am not willing to participate in Tiktok, so I need to think outside the box.
After completing my map of digital technology, it was evident that I currently have two personas one is Hygienist Cheryl and the other is Instructor Cheryl. I seem to keep both identities separate and they very rarely intercepted. Why is this I asked myself, Can I combine the two and increase my presence in the digital world? The simple answer is yes! of course I can, the hardest part is how do I get there? After reading Dayna Boys’s paper on Social Network Sites as Networked Publics: Affordances, Dynamics, and Implications, her statement “Defining and controlling boundaries around public and private can be quite difficult in a networked society, particularly when someone is motivated to publicize something that is seemingly private or when technology complicates people’s ability to control access and visibility” (Boyd 2010) I realized this is the reason I keep my two lives separate, do I actually have to ? and how can I bring them together and not compromise my privacy?
Currently I am active on Twitter, and have a whole 13 followers, on the bright side it has only been one week. LinkedIn, I currently have 155 connections and majority of those are Dental related. Facebook, I realize I use more for networking and joining groups, I currently participate in 20 active groups and 18 of which are dental related. So, the question is what is my plan to cultivate my Digital presence?
My purpose
So, it is evident to increase my digital presence, I have to overcome my fear of my privacy and combine my two digital personas. It is important that I concentrate on my purpose of why I am doing this. I feel that in order for me to connect with my students, peers and fellow professionals, I must bring my two identities together. I do feel the both sides will benefit and that it will create a greater digital presence for myself.
My Approach
My approach is to combine both my digital identities, I can do this first with Twitter. I can share tweets, following medical professionals, education experts, ask questions and follow other MALAT past students and current. I feel it is also important to ensure that my tweets are professional and have a purpose. I can also increase my LinkedIn community, currently the majority of my connections are dental related, I can reach out and touch base with other instructors in educational institutes, MALAT past and present students, computer technology experts and experts in the virtual reality realm who can possibly assist with my research, in creating online clinical exams. Currently, I only use Facebook for Dental related groups and keeping in touch with family, I have realized that I am underutilizing the power of Facebook and I need to broaden my horizons and reach out to the Digital world and other groups.
The Gaps in my Knowledge
I have found since being thrust into hyperspace with the (Covid-19), I need to understand the power of my digital presence and how it can help me in my daily teachings. As I tell my students “When we are no longer able to change a situation – we are challenged to change ourselves.” (Frankl 1990). I know that my main challenge is changing my thinking and looking at my new norm of life. It is my responsibility to research, embrace and review the digital environment in order to not only increase my digital presence and take my career as an instructor to the next level. I also have to encourage my students to do the same. I feel that I am light years behind in the digital world and that I have so much to learn.
Excelling at my Digital Presence
It is evident that I have a lot to learn and filling my gaps in my digital presence will be my biggest challenge. The first thing I have realize is that the only thing holding me back is my own fear of failure and not allowing myself to combine both my identities into one. I do believe with time I will be able to achieve my ultimate goal of increasing my digital presence through my blog posts, twitter feed, linkdin connections and my Facebook groups. By increasing my digital presence, it will allow me to increase my connections across all platforms and thus my digital presence will increase.
Measuring my success
So, the question of the century is how will I measure my success and how will I know my presence has been increased? My plan is to review my social media platforms in a month’s time to ensure that I have increased my followers, contacts and that both my digital identities have been combined. It will be interesting to see if I can indeed succeed and combine the two. I also believe that increasing my digital presence will also have a positive impact on my students. I have realized that I am holding myself back and I can’t give 100% of myself or to my students if I am scared of what might be. I have to think positive and realize that any feedback positive or negative is a bonus and it will enable me to create a better presence in the digital world.
Boyd, D. (2011). Social network sites as networked publics: Affordances, dynamics, and implications. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A Networked Self (pp. 39–58). New York, NY: Rutledge.
Frankl, V. E. 1. (1990). Man’s search for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.
I see many similarities in the issues we are facing regarding social media. It appears we both under-utilize those channels and need to find ways to get more value from them. One of my concerns is around time-management, and I can keep from being sucked into the vortex of so many social networks, yet so little time. How do you plan to approach this potential pitfall of diversifying and intensifying your social media involvement?
Hi David, I am yet to come up with an answer to your question, currently I feel like I need more hours in my day. I feel that I have never worked so much in my life, how do we find the extra hours? I honesty feel that there is no way I can manage my time any better, yet I still feel like I am weeks behind. Perhaps its’ something we can work on together, supporting and and increasing each others social media involvement. Have you ever heard of ticktock? I think we should start there, seems to work for all the celebrities.
Time management is one of the biggest challenges I face with social media. Every time I begin using Twitter I realize that it is a huge time-suck, and the ROI hasn’t been very high. I have friends who use TikTok but, as before, I consider the time investment too high and the ROI too low. It really ends up being a battle of priorities. Would I rather spend time being with my two young kids before they grow up and don’t like me anymore, or scroll through my social media feed? It’s rarely that simple, but the emotional manipulation I used in that sentence makes me look good so I’ll stick with it.
It is funny how so many of us have so many different personas, it makes sense – but it also seems to go against what we tell our kids, “just be yourself.”
I have been keeping up with social media, what is in and what is not, for most of my professional life (it is part of the job lol!). Honestly, you should be aware of privacy; it is important. I teach many classes to teenagers and young adults about what they are giving away and how it compromises them. TikTok is one of the worst offenders of privacy I have seen, but it will fall away in popularity like MySpace, Vine (Pretty much just TikTok honestly – just shorter videos), Friendster, Snapchat (Losing popularity) and Facebook (at least for young people).
I appreciate your statement about moving forward despite being afraid of what may happen. I love the attitude and agree entirely with it. I wish you the best of luck, combining your personas into your new hybrid. I will help you get started by following you on the Twitter-sphere.
Thanks Mike, I think the reason my Hygiene world and my Instructor world have not intercepted is the privacy aspect. When I work in private practice, it is very rare I tell people I teach, unless they are of course not following guidelines then instructor Cheryl comes out lol. I think the biggest reason is, I don’t want to be judged as a know it all in my field, although I do know alot it’s hard working under the microscope. As far as students are concerned my private life is just that and if they can find me on Facebook kudos to them however I won’t accept a friend request. Thanks for helping me in my new quest to be the new me, its not easy making changes after many years. please help me add my picture to my blog posts…..I have followed all instructions and yet I am still just a “C”
I loved reading this, Cheryl. There’s a lot to unpack and it sounds like you’ve got a great plan for moving forward.
One thing I saw you mentioning quickly, but not really coming back to, was the idea about online privacy. I’m curious: What are your concerns?
For instance, do they relate to simply students seeing the professional side of you (asking questions, “researching”, etc.) and vice versa, or is it deeper than that?
At the same time you mention Facebook, which doesn’t seem to have a very good track record with regard to user privacy. Does that change how you view its purpose or usage in your professional (or even private) capacity?
I’m pretty reticent when it comes to engaging online as a result of that privacy and, not having many connections in the Learning and Technology space, some of what I’m going to be testing is how LinkedIn and Twitter (neither of which I am actively engaged on) might help be make and maintain connections with those in this field. It’s interesting hearing you speak to that, as well.
Hi Jean,
I think my actual issue is I am a private person and what happens in private practice and my communication with my patients stays in the practice, the same with my professional life as an instructor. Typically when I go into a dental office, I don’t tell them that I also teach, I often then get 101 questions and I am constantly under the microscope as they think I should know it all…..well I guess that’s my perception. I have come to realize that I should be proud of my background, my knowledge and my accomplishments. I don’t like the spotlight on myself and sometimes I believe that’s what holds me back from combining both identities. I have to embrace it and learn to work with both to the best of my advantage. We shall see how things go over the next month and if I accomplish my goals.
I was very interested in the article by Boyd as well. It helped me realize that privacy online is what you make of it. I look forward to hearing about how your month monitoring went.
Hi Shelly
I find it also it inserting that depending on what field your in, the perception of privacy is different. Ill let you know how it goes.
Hi Cheryl,
While reading your measurements of success, I realized that I used the same criteria – size of the audience on various platforms and it occurred to me that I forgot about quality. While quantity is important, I also care about the depth of online connections and impact it can have on lives of everyone involved. I guess it brings me to another question I need to look into – how to measure quality of online presence ?
Hi Denys,
Yes I agree the quality of connections is very important, they need to have a purpose.