WhatsTheBuzzAbout.com

Your Email Addresses

Your email address or addresses will frequently provide readers with a glimpse of insight into how you want to be represented. However, in some cases how your affiliations (e.g., businesses or organizations) have determined how they want to be perceived and you may have little, if any, choice in the matter of your email address.  Many companies use a standard format such as “

firstname.lastname@company.com.” Others may chose to use the initial of the first name and the full last time or another format. It is an email address which may make you easy to find or hard to find.  Even if someone does not know you but knows that you work at a company with a particular email format, he or she may reach out to you using that standard format.  Be prepared for that to happen.  It is the cost of doing business

You may choose to have other multiple email addresses for a number of reasons. For example, you may be precluded from using your business email for other than conducting business or do not have access to it except when you are in a specific physical location. You may use your email addresses as a method to segregate mail. You may have individual email addresses that you use for

·         Business

·         Searching for employment

·         Family and close friends

·         Non-profit organizational work

·          A particular social network or networks

·          Posting comments

·          Banking, financing, and credit cards, etc.

You may choose to have your email aggregated into one place – perhaps Gmail or Outlook or a combination of both, etc.  Your email is definitely a place where you can exhibit your personality if you want to do so. Just keep in mind that any email address can expect to have a long and relentless cyber-life.  

 The General Rules

·         Keep your email addresses simple and easy to understand if possible. For example, using an email address with iljiliijkili@… may reduce your spam. However, it is very difficult for people to use and replicate without making an error.  Keep extraneous characters, such as stars or percentage symbols, out of the email address. Remember that in English some typefaces reflect the lowercase “L” the same as the number “1.”  Also, not everyone has a keyboard which can replicate certain characters.  

·         If you put your email on a document, such as a resume, keep the type face a readable font size. Sometimes people make their email addresses so tiny that people have to blow up the document to read it online. If you have any questions as to whether it is quickly legible, just ask someone to look at your document online.

·         Watch the type face you use. Sometimes, scripted typefaces make it more difficult to read.

·         If possible, do not share the same email address with another person. If someone wants to reach out to you, he or she may not appreciate the lack of confidentiality of a shared email address. In addition, if you use PLAXO, the email address will be assigned to one individual. For example, if a colleague enters the email address for you and your name may be Sigmund, it may default to Krista as a result if you share the email address with Krista and she is a PLAXO user. This is not a good thing if you, Sigmund, are a job seeker.

·         Use a general rule of thumb that if you had to provide your email to the leader of your country for his or her use, or know that it would be on the front page of the Wall Street Journal or New York Times, you would not be embarrassed.  Therefore, you might decide that pinkletoeshotstuff@ might not be your first choice as a personal email address.

Have fun creating your email address identities. Remember that you can retire email addresses and create new ones as your situation and interests change. Have fun and enjoy your freedom to choose!

What is your buzz about?

Your Online Name

Your name is the first step in establishing your online identify. It seems as though it should be simple to make the decision as to what name you want to use. However, that is not always the case. There are many ways to establish an online identity from how you complete requests for your photograph, to your email address, your name, your tagline, and your signature block or blocks. Taken as a whole, these myriad of individual decisions comprise your identity. 

Deciding What Name Is Right for You In Any Situation

Many people espouse that you should be consistent in how you display your name on the various sites.  Using a consistent name might prove to be the most advantageous, if you are strictly in business mode, establishing or maintaining name branding, or are an industry leader. However, for example, if you are a teenager, use friendship as well as purely business networks, have stage or celebrity status, or simply want to use a variety of names online, it is perfectly acceptable to do so. You may want to use your nick name in some cases on informal sites, your full given name on others, your first and last name on others, and perhaps, a married name, a surname, etc. 

It is your decision and there is no right or wrong decision as long as you abide by the standards and requirements of the web site or platform.

The General Rules

However, there are some simple rules and courtesies to keep in mind.

1.       Abide by the rules of the web site and platform.

2.       Remember that there are individuals who do not share or who do not understand traditions in your culture, and therefore, who may not understand your name. For example, not all individuals are accustomed to the use of surnames, to names which include regions, to the sequence of placement of names, to people with only a single name, or to truncated names such as Sharma randomly used in place of or in addition to using the extended name of Sharmamurthy, etc.

3.       Make sure that people know what your name is. Don’t be upset if people make mistakes in writing or pronunciation, etc. Rarely, will someone try to deliberately offend you by making a mistake in your name.

4.       Don’t put extraneous characters in your name, such as a name “^#!constantine&$++jones” which will make it difficult to retrieve and organize the information for your contacts and others.

5.       Don’t load your name with your achievements, such as a name “Crystal MBP, SPHR, CPA, JD, DD, PMP Stareck,” which only serves to clutter your name.

6.       Don’t load your name with your email address, such as a name “Espinosa enmabsbdmb@… Sanchez.”

7.       Don’t capitalize every letter.

8.       Don’t sign in as two people on a social media platform under one public profile, such as BrettandMaryAnne Wainwrittenroof. Some individuals might want to connect with both individuals; however most people would like to connect with one or the other individual. In general, being two people acting as one on social media platforms is not professional, friendly, or cute. It also may limit how others will interact with one or both individuals.

9.       Always keep in mind that your contacts might want to file your information in a program such as Plaxo. Most times individuals in business will have hundreds or thousands of contacts and filing the names electronically by last name or by the name of the business, etc. will be the best. The less cluttered your name, the easier it makes it for your contacts to remember you, to file, and to retrieve electronically.

In summary, your name is your first impression – make it a good one.

What is your buzz about?