Poll: Do you build your personal brand as a linguist on social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, FB, Instagram)?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Aug 30, 2022

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you build your personal brand as a linguist on social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, FB, Instagram)?".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 19:57
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No Aug 30, 2022

I’m not on social media and I’ve very rarely used FB, TW or Instagram. I’ve been on LinkedIn for a few years but I’ve never completed my profile.

Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Philip Lees
Wolfgang Schoene
 
ipv
ipv
Local time: 20:57
Member (2015)
English to Croatian
+ ...
No! Aug 30, 2022

I am not on FB, TW, LinkedIn, Instagram, Xing; I am in fact a social media troglodyte, and a proud one

Dina Lebedeva
writeaway
Anne Maclennan
Alexandra Speirs
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Susanna Martoni
Susanna Martoni  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 20:57
Member (2009)
Spanish to Italian
+ ...
Well Aug 30, 2022

Interesting question.
Though my Communication Sciences studies (or maybe due to them), I observe the social media enviroment from a distance.
About two years ago I followed a Linkedin training course (quite expensive) that was not very useful.
A large part of my colleagues are very active on several platforms.

But I wonder whether and to what extent this makes sense.

I mean, society is changing, everyone is trying to emerge, many of us shout.
In
... See more
Interesting question.
Though my Communication Sciences studies (or maybe due to them), I observe the social media enviroment from a distance.
About two years ago I followed a Linkedin training course (quite expensive) that was not very useful.
A large part of my colleagues are very active on several platforms.

But I wonder whether and to what extent this makes sense.

I mean, society is changing, everyone is trying to emerge, many of us shout.
In general, social media appear to me almost unbearable. Annoying, worthless.

Am I wrong?
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Liena Vijupe
neilmac
Claudio Machado Junior
Thaiane Assumpção
Christopher Schröder
frz
Anne Maclennan
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 20:57
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
No Aug 30, 2022

No, although I do have a profile page on business related sites such as LinkedIn.

I don't have a business profile on Facebook because Facebook only allows one profile per person. However, I should really get myself a Facebook page (which is a page for one's "business"). The problem with Facebook is that interaction with others is via the "Messenger" (even if you tell visitors to send you an e-mail, they'll still try to contact you via the Messenger), and I just forget to check my
... See more
No, although I do have a profile page on business related sites such as LinkedIn.

I don't have a business profile on Facebook because Facebook only allows one profile per person. However, I should really get myself a Facebook page (which is a page for one's "business"). The problem with Facebook is that interaction with others is via the "Messenger" (even if you tell visitors to send you an e-mail, they'll still try to contact you via the Messenger), and I just forget to check my messages.

I don't see how one could create a translator's profile on Instagram. And Twitter is a chat application, not a social media application (although you "chat" with nobody when you use it).
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Kunal Jaidka
Philip Lees
 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 20:57
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other N/A Aug 30, 2022

N/A, because I'm not interested in "building my personal brand". I already have enough work and clients - and sometimes more than enough.

Alexandra Speirs
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Alex Lichanow
Philip Lees
 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 20:57
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
No Aug 30, 2022

I have a personal profile on facebook and quite enjoy the communication with friends and family - but I don't have the need to use it for business purposes.
I also have a LinkedIn profile - but it has never been of much use.

However, I am doing perfectly well without those platforms

[Edited at 2022-08-30 11:15 GMT]


Claudio Machado Junior
Josephine Cassar
 
Maria Silvestri
Maria Silvestri  Identity Verified
United States
Member (2010)
Italian to English
+ ...
Not worth it Aug 30, 2022

I would do this if it was something that would cause me to get new clients - but people really just don't seem to seek out LSPs (especially freelancers) via social media so it's a better use of my time to gain work otherwise.

Baran Keki
Dan Lucas
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
No, but... Aug 30, 2022

... I imagine it is the way of the future. I'm not quite sure how sycophantic networking on LinkedIn gets results, but everyone seems to be at it these days.

 
Barbara Cochran, MFA
Barbara Cochran, MFA  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:57
Spanish to English
+ ...
LinkedIn Only, But Not Too Terribly Much Anymore Aug 30, 2022

Although, when I am awarded my fourth university degree at the end of this year, I will add that to my LinkedIn profile. And I was awarded three literary translation projects as a result of my participation on that site. I have, almost from the get-go, considered the rest of those platforms more like "anti-social media". Their owners seem to promote their own personal political agenda and polarization between groups and individuals. I'm always hearing about all the bullying that goes on on them,... See more
Although, when I am awarded my fourth university degree at the end of this year, I will add that to my LinkedIn profile. And I was awarded three literary translation projects as a result of my participation on that site. I have, almost from the get-go, considered the rest of those platforms more like "anti-social media". Their owners seem to promote their own personal political agenda and polarization between groups and individuals. I'm always hearing about all the bullying that goes on on them, anyway. Who in their right mind, and wants to stay in it, would have any desire to read any of that hateful crap? Perhaps only some social scientists or lawyers, doing their separate kinds of research... So no, I choose to not promote the sites listed in the question, other than LinkedIn, by participating on them in any way, even to promote myself professionally.

[Edited at 2022-08-30 19:24 GMT]

[Edited at 2022-08-30 23:23 GMT]
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Philip Lees
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 20:57
French to English
. Aug 31, 2022

Maria Silvestri wrote:

I would do this if it was something that would cause me to get new clients - but people really just don't seem to seek out LSPs (especially freelancers) via social media so it's a better use of my time to gain work otherwise.


It's funny you think that. The vast majority of my clients are people I met over the course of my career, who I linked to on LinkedIn and then contacted once I started freelancing. So while I knew them already, it was via LinkedIn that I started working for them. It's great because people can move to different firms, countries or whatever, but you don't lose contact simply because their pro address has changed.
I have also had several new clients reach out to me via LinkedIn (one good repeat client and some one-offs).
So people definitely do reach out to freelancers via social media.
NB I just have a profile up, and update it occasionally. I don't actively "build my personal brand" by publishing articles or reports or "musings on my vision of the future of translation".


 


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Poll: Do you build your personal brand as a linguist on social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, FB, Instagram)?






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