So, let’s be honest: It’s a pain to keep your platforms updated and in order. We all experience that feeling of dread when you have to update your contact information or big life status across multiple platforms and it’s especially daunting if they’ve sat for months without much updating or if you are trying to transition to a more professional identity.
I’ve been through this binge updating process a few times, and over the years, I’ve found some quirky tricks that have helped me to keep everything updated. So I thought I would share some of these tricks and quirky practices I’ve adopted to help me keep my platforms updated.
Tip 1: Take Advantage of Saying Happy Birthday!
If you are one of those #SoMe Peeps who posts Happy Birthday to friends, then use those few minutes a day to also clean your friends list. If you don’t feel comfortable saying Happy Birthday to a person, then you probably shouldn’t be connected with them on Facebook. So instead of posting Happy Birthday, unfriend them. Yes, it may seem to be poor taste that you’re unfriending them on their birthday, but be honest, if you aren’t going to say it anyway, why prolong the inevitable of unfriending them? This way you can keep a majority of your friends list actively updated and it only takes a minutes or two in a route that you already practice.
Tip 2: Utilize About.Me
If you didn’t know it already, I’m on about 7 social media platforms (Surprise!). And let me tell you when I’d update them, I used to always forget which platform I’d updated last, and which ones I still needed to do. So I’ve utilized my About.Me profile to list all the platforms I’m on and then subsequently use this to help me keep track of my updating. It’s a quick and easy way to just go down the row of social media icon and update my profiles one at a time. It has definitely cut 15 or so minutes off my searching and typing of all my platforms and trying to remember which ones I’ve updated or not when I’m doing a major bio or life moment update.
Bonus tip: I also use About.Me as my base for my bio, and basically copy and paste it into each of my bios on my other platforms.
Tip 3: Google Yourself
While many people use this as an ego boost, and I’ll be honest, it’s kinda cool to see that I’m Google-able, you can also use it to see what there is out in the online world about you. I Google myself once a week to see what pops up. While this is more of a crap-shoot rather than a scientific methodology, at times I’ve found it helpful. For one, I’ve found random platforms I’ve tried, but don’t use, and am able to delete those profiles, or at least deactivate them so they don’t come up if you search for me. I’ve also seen what I’m associate with through friends’ profiles via Google Images, and if they are not what I believe or want associated with my identity, I’ve been know to unfriend them. (Though those are extreme rare cases).
Again, this is not a scientific methodology and you need to search multiple names (i.e. I seach Brian Proffer, Brian D. Proffer, Brian D Proffer and Brian David Proffer), but still, every little bit can help to keep your platforms up to date to reflect you in whatever period of life you are in. And Googling yourself only takes an additional 5 minutes or so of your time during your Monday Morning Routine or Friday Afternoon Slump.
So, I hope that one or two of these will help you maintain your profiles on a more regular basis without too much intrusion into your time.
Until next time!
Peace, Love and Pandas!
Hello World, Its Me, Brian 