Social Media Audit

I will fully admit that my online presence or commitment to social media platforms is pretty sparse. What could possibly show up in the search results when I googled my name? Independent casualty adjuster, senior financial analyst, lawyer and real-estate agent are occupations that were listed when I searched my name. Additionally there were several results for various marriages, places of residence and LinkedIn accounts for people that share my name, however none of the results were actually for me. I learned that apparently my name is more common than I realized and in the first 5 pages of the search results there is not a trace of me. When I added “pharmacist” to my name search I actually had a result and the first result was actually for me.

I made a decision many years ago that I did not want to get caught up in all the social media platforms, and to be honest, I am still happy with this decision. It is a choice that I made for several reasons. At first it was because I wanted to stay connected to people the “old-fashioned” way with phone calls and getting together. Then it was because I became a pharmacist and wanted to maintain a professional image and not be put in an awkward situation where a patient would ask if they could follow me on Facebook. Most recently it is because I do not want to spend a lot of time on social media because I want to have more quality time with my family and not be wondering what so-and-so just posted on Instagram. Part of this decision is also because the one social media platform that I do use is Pinterest, and the time that I have spent pinning things to various boards has shown me how easy it is for 10 minutes to turn into one hour. I do not follow anyone on Pinterest, I mainly use it as an inspiration board or for finding recipes. Each year I create a goal board and go back to it to remind me of what I am working towards for that year, which I find works quite well.

I realize that many people have a LinkedIn account, and I can see how this would be good for networking or expanding your accessibility to people in other healthcare fields. I have thought of creating a LinkedIn account, however I feel that at this point in my career it is not really necessary. Once I am in a leadership/management role then it may become a more useful platform to be a part of.

Right now I am happy with my limited online presence and it is what works for me. Despite that I am not on all of the popular social media platforms, I do have a general understanding of how they work and am able to navigate my way through them if needed. I am sure that with time I will become more active in social media, but for now I still prefer the old school method of picking up the phone and having a conversation, it is what makes me feel more connected to people.