Running Head: PROFESSIONAL ONLINE IDENTITY ANALYSIS

Professional Online Identity Analysis

Jessica Turpin
Post University

PROFESSIONAL ONLINE IDENTITY

Professional Online Identity Analysis

Before leaving the house a process of deciding what to wear based on destination and
tone usually occurs. Will it be professional dress for a day in the office or sweats for a hour our
two at the gym? Based on the what plans the day contain a conscious decision is made as to
how one chooses to physically represent themselves. If the day were going to start at the office,
a suit or maybe some khaki pants or other professional garb would be chosen. If the days
destination was the beach, wardrobe would be considerably different. This same concept can be
applied to an individuals online identity. A conscious decision schould be made as to how they
wish to be perceived and by what audience they will be entertaining. The following report will
analyze the professional identities of two individuals and how they choose to represent
themselves online.
The profiles were analyzed between the month of June 1st and present. This was done by
keeping an old fashioned tally sheet. One mark was made for every day a post was made on a
calender. A second set of marks was made for every comment or acknowledgement made on the
users post. Negative comments were to be accounted for as well but none were encountered so
measurement was not necessary. A post is defined as a successful professional post if it was
acknowledged postively by an average of 5 or more people for the purpose of this analysis.
Responses were also counted to measure how actively the user corresponded with one or more
response considered actively engaged.
Individual number one is the former Mayor of West Haven, Connecticut and Current
president of Easter Seals Goodwill Industries. He held the office of Mayor for 7 terms and was a
catalyst for change and improvement in local public policy. He has public social and

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professional media profiles on LinkedIn and Facebook which are updated on a fairly regular
basis. The second invidividual is Yvonne Sanders. She is a vocational rehabilitation specialist
with the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services for the state of Connecticut for the past 4 years and
previously a clinician with the local Boys and Girls Village. Her public professional profile
resides on LinkedIn. It is unknown whether a Facebook profile exists as it is not searchable and
likely private if it does.
These individuals were chosen were chosen because they have been observed both in
person and online to uphold strict professional appearance. They both accomplish this using
varying styles of communication. Yvonne has adopted a no nonsense, matter-of-fact,
respectfully cordial, professional style of communication. While it may sound cold and
unfeeling her style of communication has the effect of making inspiring confidence in her
knowledge by taking personal judgement or feelings out of the equation. Her words and actions
are motivated by making sure people are properly informed on process rather than her personal
opinion on matters.
Richard Borer has adopted a much more personal style of communication. He
demonstrates a feeling of genuine concern and interest for those he interacts by getting to know
about them personally. He definitely takes the concept of knowing your audience to a new
level. This may be a result of his previous role as Mayor of West Haven where being a man of
the people is a tactic to aid in reelection but it is effective as well in his current role of President
of a non profit organization. He shares his life freely with others as a means to find a connection
by which to relate to one another with out making things overly personal.
Richard Borers Facebook profile shows his personal side. He doesnt post very
frequently, less than once a week usually, but when he does it always showcases positive

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activities. His friends list is set to private so it is unknown how many connections he has on this
site. His facebook profile was analyzed from the time period of June 1st 2016 to present. In that
time he had 15 posts, only one of which contained references to his professional life with the
remaining 14 showing him with his family engaged in wholesome activity. This may seem
unprofessional at first but if a potential grantor were to look at his profile to get a concept of his
character before deciding to donate any amount of money to his organization they would see a
family man with compassion and dedication to his loved ones.

This is a photo of Richard Borer (right) with two CEOs at the Easter Seals Goodwill Annual Meeting, the only
professional post on his Facebook page from June 1st 2016 to present. Posted by Richard Borer (2016).

In addition to Facebook, Richard Borer also uses LinkedIn to communicate

professionally. His use of LinkedIn is different than the typical LinkedIn account. He has an
account under his name that establishes his professional accomplishments in an autobiographical

PROFESSIONAL ONLINE IDENTITY

format and has over 500 connections. However, he does not actively post on this page. Mr.
Borer uses his organizations LinkedIn account to post professionally pertinent information. It
seems his personal account is strictly biographical whereas the Easter Seals Goodwill account is
for advertisement, though he does respond to messages through his account in a timely manner
(within 24 hours).
As previously stated, Ms. Sanders does not have a searchable Facebook account but she
is an active use of LinkedIn. While her original posts are scarce she likes and shares many useful
and professional articles. She has just over 300 connections on this page and is also very quick
to respond to messages. Every article on her page is professional in tone and related to her work
or an issue that would affect it. Her posts are positive and free of strong opinion that others may
disagree with or find controversial. They represent fact, opportunity, or bias free current event
updates. She has been active the majority of the searchable days which only goes back 15 days.

A sample of the useful and professional content posted by Yvonne Sanders (2016) on LinkedIn.

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Both subjects have professional online identities but despite this similarity there are some
obvious differences in their activity. The activity may be related to the purpose for which they
keep their identities. Subject one, Richard Borer, is an established professional in his field. He
is at the top of his profession and needs only to keep up a positive reputation to continue his
already successful professional life. His pages indicate a purpose of maintaining the positive
reputation of his personal brand. For this reason he does not need to post frequently to get
himself noticed as he does not need the recognition to get ahead. He is already as far as he can
go at this point in time and until he retires or decides to run for a position on a board of directors
his current level of activity is adequate. If and when that occasion does arise it is presumable
that his participation on various social media and other professional sites would increase.
Yvonne Sanders activity is much more frequent. She appears to be continuously
constructing her personal brand and strives to maintain her professional, non-controversial online
identity. Her frequent posting allows her to be seen regularly by her contacts as well as advertise
her accomplishments and gain her endorsements. She is a young professional with an already
impressive background that is tactfully represented on her LinkedIn page. It is a prime example
of what every young professional should strive to represent when creating their own professional
online identity.
Results
Yvonne has contributed to her LinkedIn Page 7 out of 15 searchable days with an average
of 14 responses or reactions per post. She responded to messages within 24 hours. Richard had
0 posts in the 15 searchable days of activity on his LinkedIn Account but responded to messages
within 24 hours as well. Yvonne had no searchable Facebook account by which to measure
engagement or professional content. Richard posted to his Facebook account 15 times between

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the month of June and present with an average of 48 responses or reactions to his posts. Richard
only responded to one comment received. When privately messaged on Facebook Richard
responded within 4 hours.
The results show that Richard is considerably more active on social media than Yvonne
but his posts seem to imply a different purpose than Yvonnes. He had absolutely no posts on
LinkedIn but regularly kept up his Facebook account. Richards posts present him as personable
and wholesome. He has far more connections and endorsements than Yvonne as well. His
profile demonstrates that he is an already established professional that uses his social media
account to maintain his public appearance and continue to shed a positive light on his
accomplishments should he need to promote himself for a future endeavor. Yvonnes activity is
much more scarce in general but heavier specifically to LinkedIn. Her posts are demonstrative
of a person working on building their personal brand and establishing a solid professional
identity. All her posts are reflective of her profession and are communicated in a professional
tone. Yvonne had to responses to comments on her posts. Both users can be regarded as having
made professional posts based on the criteria listed on page for this project but neither would be
considered actively engaged.
Reflection
Of the two profiles analyzed in this project Yvonnes style would be the most appropriate
for a young professional or student to use as a positive example when trying to establish a
positive professional online identity. She posts frequently enough on Facebook to be noticed by
recruiters and keeps her content within the parameters of professional and noncontroversial. She
shares material that is educated and relevant to her work by reputable academic sources such as
links to professional articles.

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Screen shot of a link to a professional article posted by Yvonne Sanders (2016) to LinkedIn

Her LinkedIn page portrays her as an avid learner who stays on top of the most recent
information in her field. The section that allows the user to write about themselves and their
accomplishments is detailed and displayed in a timeline set up making her professional
contributions and growth easy to follow. This is the style of online identity that anyone
currently trying to establish themselves as a professional or showcase their learning would
benefit from. This is the style that will be implemented on this authors LinkedIn account.
To make these changes, the current amount of activity has to be increase greatly. The
current content on this authors LinkedIn page is of a professional tone with topics relevant to the

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current field of employment and responses to messages are made within 24 hours or less but
activity occurs on a less than monthly basis. Activity will be increased to a minimum of twice
weekly so the profile is noticed more by recruiters and others in similar professions who may
wish to make a connection. In addition to increased activity more information about career
history and accomplishments need to be showcased as Yvonne has done in her profile. It needs
to be updated to reflect this authors current status as a graduate student and details of current
roles and responsibilities of the position occupied need to be elaborated on. Unlike Ms. Sanders
page, to fully embrace the concept of professional online identity there will be more responses to
the interactions others leave on shared posts or comments.
Mr. Borers Facebook page would likely not be useful to advance or promote a student or
new professional wishing to get noticed or recruited because it lacks any great amount of content
related to his job. It works for his purpose of maintaining his wholesome identity but he is
already established in his career and has no need to promote himself further. Like his Facebook
page, Richards LinkedIn page would also not be a good model for a blossoming professional as
there is very little activity on it. It does a great job at showcasing his accomplishments but does
not keep him engaged with peers. Again, for his purposes this style is adequate as he has no
need to be picked up by a recruiter but it would make a poor model for a young, unestablished
professional.
Conclusion
Both Richard Borer and Yvonne Sanders have successfully established professional
online identities for themselves. They have both done so in very different ways. Yvonne has
chosen to keep her posting to professional topics and highlight her accomplishments. As a young
professional early in her career this is a great model. Her frequency of posts on her LinkedIn

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account make her visible to recruiters and her style and professionalism make her an attractive
potential candidate for various positions in her field. Richard has chosen to take a more personal
tone with his Facebook account and leave his LinkedIn account as a present but not active
resource. His posts are casual in nature but do not indicate him as anything other than
professional. At his stage in his career he is able to do this. For those who have not yet reached
their peak, Yvonne clearly has the better model.

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References
Borer, R. (2016) https://www.facebook.com/richard.borer.18
Sanders, Y. (2016) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/activities/yvonnesanders+0_3kYC8H366UR-PUQIxq2QWX?trk=prof-0-sb-rcnt-act-link