How many academic sites do you have a profile on?

[hejduk]

It seems everyday that another site comes along that we "must" join in order to keep our profiles out there. So, how many sites do you have a profile on?

 

[Loric]

Clicked all the ones i had in any manner.. used other for Twitter. I also have a youtube channel.. a GoodReads fanclub..

[fuzzylogician]

Facebook isn't exactly an academic site, is it? Nor is Google+. In my field Facebook is actually used quite often for networking and some people also use Twitter, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that you need to maintain anything if you don't want to. The only important thing, as with any online profile that potential employers/students/others might find, is to watch what you post.

 

The only site where I maintain an academic "profile" of sorts is my academic website. Everywhere else is where I socialize.

[hejduk]

Facebook isn't exactly an academic site, is it? Nor is Google+. In my field Facebook is actually used quite often for networking and some people also use Twitter, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that you need to maintain anything if you don't want to. The only important thing, as with any online profile that potential employers/students/others might find, is to watch what you post.

 

The only site where I maintain an academic "profile" of sorts is my academic website. Everywhere else is where I socialize.

Yah, my bad with using the "academic" term for describing sites. Facebook and Google+ are both sites that I have seen academics posting professional profiles. 

 

So you don't post pubs or anything on Academia or ResearchGate? I have this overwhelming pressure (self-made) to constantly post and update my profile across all platforms.

[fuzzylogician]

I once uploaded a bunch of papers to academia.edu on a slow afternoon maybe 3 years ago. I haven't been maintaining it since then. The main thing it's good for is notifying me whenever someone googles my name or work (or, sometimes, something else that's completely unrelated ) and finds some of my work. That's mostly good for my ego, though, not for much of anything else. For more serious purposes, anybody who wants to see work that's not 3 years old needs to go to my actual academic website. Since my name is unique, that's the first thing you find if you google my name and so I am not worried about not maintaining the academia.edu page.

 

ResearchGate I've never even heard of. But why would you need to have multiple websites? I don't see the purpose.

[TakeruK]

In this poll, I checked off Facebook and My personal website. The only reliable place to get useful information about my academic life is my personal website. I keep that updated. I use Facebook for socializing, including making friends with other people in the field. Sometimes I would Facebook friend nice people I meet at conferences and want to keep in touch with (on more than just an academic level). I have a very basic Google+ page set up just so that if people try to find me on Google+, they will see my name, where I work, and a link to my personal website. I've just started using Twitter.

 

I've only heard of ResearchGate mostly because I keep getting emails from them saying "So-and-so has created a profile on ResearchGate!" and I guess when you do that, it mines your contacts (probably with permission) and emails all of them invites! I don't use ResearchGate, Academia.edu, LinkedIn, or any such similar websites. I don't know anyone who uses any of the above for research/academic purposes. I have some friends with LinkedIn pages created when they were in college when they were looking for jobs or for those looking to get hired outside of academia. Maybe it's just not that common (yet?) in my field. Generally, in my field, the best way to find a researcher is to find their personal website by Googling "[Full Name] [school Name] [field]" where "field" (e.g. Astronomy) is only needed if their name is like Jane Doe. Personal webpages seem to be the main way to get information about people.

 

As I move from school to school, I make sure my old webpages from my old schools point to my new school's page. Most departmental servers are pretty happy to keep your webpage on their servers indefinitely as it doesn't really take up a huge amount of space. I might think about getting my own server host when I am at the post-doc/job hunting stage since I might move around a lot, but that's still far away.

[Authorization]

Just this one and Collegeconfidential. I have a few profs added on linkedin which is more for the sake of professional/academic references. 

[Loric]

For the record, Facebook was created for college students - so yes, it's an academic site. You couldn't use it originally without a school affiliation.

[Monochrome Spring]

I have an Academia.edu and LinkedIn profile, but I don't have anything on either but a link to my main personal website. The main personal website is the one that I keep up-to-date. I don't have anything like Facebook or Google+.

[spectastic]

they banned me from collegeconfidential because I refused to cooperate with one the administrators, not because I wasn't following rules, but probably because he/she just didn't like me.

 

they give you infractions for the dumbest shit.

Edited December 12, 2013 by spectastic

[nnnnnnn]

I only maintain my linked-in profile because there's resume-generator for it. 

http://resume.linkedinlabs.com/

[Queen of Kale]

I don't consider my FB academic because it's set to private & based on a nickname and not my legal name.  But the only place to find CV-type information is my personal page through my department.  Closer to graduation I might branch out a bit but I also feel like networking at conferences, publishing frequently, and maintaining an up-to-date personal page are the three best ways to get your name out there in my field.

[Seeking]

I didn't know Linkedin had a resume generator - thanks for this information!

 

I keep only my Academia edu profile updated. Facebook is where all my family and friends have found me and we communicate across the globe. I do have a Facebook page which I try to keep updated.

 

I have several other profiles whose Id-passwords I have forgotten. 

Edited December 13, 2013 by Seeking

[TeaGirl]

Oh man, I've made so many profiles on different sites I get invited to I don't even know anymore, haha. I did go through most once by googling myself and trying to remove unused ones and updating most.

 

I try to keep the academia.edu one and LinkedIn updated on a regular basis though

[aberrant]

to my surprised, I'm the second person who has a profile @ researchgate. I guess that there aren't too many science students cast their votes yet.

[calliope_dogstar]

I just got some notification from Acemia.edu that someone in Canada searched my name on Google and found me. What? Anyone else get stuff like this? (No schools in Canada on my applications list).

[RedPill]

Great thread!

 

Personally, I have LinkedIn, Academia.edu and Facebook. I may create a personal website before applying to programs. 

[Sarah Bee]

a well-maintained LinkedIn profile. I actually received job offers twice via LinkedIn. And I use Twitter professionally, but can't say it's an academic profile website.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Sarah Bee

[complexbongo]

Not listed here is the StackExchange site : Academia | StackExchange

 

It seems that not many people use this site, but it has great information on it about grad admissions, and generally anything for those in academia at the graduate level or higher.