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Digital Leadership

Digital Leadership Skills for Students

Digital Identity

 This refers to the ability to project a positive digital identity and reputation in the digital world.

Why build a digital identity?

As well as evidencing your digital skills within your own workplace you should also consider how you can develop networks and build your reputation beyond this. There are a range of social networking tools that can help you to build your digital identity.

You may decide to start by focusing on the promotion of an area of expertise that you have developed. This will not only promote your own abilities, but will also promote your workplace and may also help with future projects or even career progression.  You could begin by creating your own blog, or creating Twitter profile and then engaging in hashtag discussions and sharing resources that you have found. In addition to this you could add your area or areas of expertise to your Linkedin profile. You could even do all of this. 

Should you separate you personal social profile from your professional?

When creating a social profile you will need to decide if you want to separate you personal profile from your professional, for example saving your social interactions for Facebook and professional interactions for Twitter and Linkedin. You may however not mind if your professional contacts are aware of your personal opinions, or that they see some of the resources that you share. Individuals often put on Twitter that a "retweet is not an endorsement" on their profile to convey that even if they share a resource they may not agree with the opinion that is presented.

Social responsibility should be at the front of your social interactions, regularly ask yourself, "would I say what I am saying via social media publicly and in person",  always be mindful of your digital footprint. 

Multimedia Resources

  • Managing your digital identity MMU Library Services 3 minutes 
  • What Do Your Digital Footprints Say About You? | Nicola Osborne | TEDxYouth@Manchester 8.23 Minutes 

References