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Poll: Is it important to represent yourself professionally on one or more social media platforms?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
May 27, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Is it important to represent yourself professionally on one or more social media platforms?".

This poll was originally submitted by Susanna Martoni. View the poll results »



 
Susanna Martoni
Susanna Martoni  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 18:13
Member (2009)
Spanish to Italian
+ ...
I do not know :-) May 27, 2019

Well, my question was written a bit differently:

Do you think it is important to write contents on social media?

(maybe the meaning is parallel, but I prefer to specify since I do not understand what "to represent myself" really (really) means)



And (just to somewhat contradict the above) since I am not on FB, Twitter and platform like that, apart from Linkedin, I am wondering wh
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Well, my question was written a bit differently:

Do you think it is important to write contents on social media?

(maybe the meaning is parallel, but I prefer to specify since I do not understand what "to represent myself" really (really) means)



And (just to somewhat contradict the above) since I am not on FB, Twitter and platform like that, apart from Linkedin, I am wondering whether it matters, in general.



[Modificato alle 2019-05-27 08:58 GMT]
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Felipe Oliveira
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 17:13
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I don't know (though I suppose it's not important al all) May 27, 2019

I’m not on FB or Twitter (not even privately) but I’m on LinkedIn. I’ve never been contacted through my profile on LinkedIn but I admit that my profile needs a good makeover: it’s in my to-do list…

Susanna Martoni
Felipe Oliveira
Josephine Cassar
 
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
India
Local time: 22:43
English to Tamil
+ ...
Important!!! May 27, 2019

It is very important to represent ourselves professionally on social media platforms. By representing ourselves on social media platforms, we get more and more visibility which, in turn, will get us more clients. So, it is highly useful to have social media accounts. I have accounts in Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Susanna Martoni
Elena Mordenti
 
Isabel Sevilla
Isabel Sevilla  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 18:13
English to Spanish
+ ...
Definitely yes May 27, 2019

Dear all,

I believe that as a freelance translator, websites do not work as well as social media to promote my services.

Facebook business page to post my blog entries, resources for translators, jobs done, and curiosities about translation for non translators.

LinkedIn remained as a plain cv. No interesting offers so far.

Instagram great tool, because when they make your acquaintance, they do not ask for your phone they ask for your Instagra
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Dear all,

I believe that as a freelance translator, websites do not work as well as social media to promote my services.

Facebook business page to post my blog entries, resources for translators, jobs done, and curiosities about translation for non translators.

LinkedIn remained as a plain cv. No interesting offers so far.

Instagram great tool, because when they make your acquaintance, they do not ask for your phone they ask for your Instagram. Advantages: nobody can lose your phone, Insta works as a business display and search platform. Just find a way to say it with pictures.

Website to show in detail all your show reel, combinations and clients.

Hope it helped someone see further. Click Agree to let me know it helped and how, or Reply to let me know you disagree and why. Thanks

[Edited at 2019-05-27 11:06 GMT]
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Susanna Martoni
Hege Jakobsen Lepri
 
Susanna Martoni
Susanna Martoni  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 18:13
Member (2009)
Spanish to Italian
+ ...
Yes Isabel May 27, 2019

Isabel Sevilla wrote:

Dear all,

I believe that as a freelance translator, websites do not work as well as social media to promote my services.

Facebook business page to post my blog entries, resources for translators, jobs done, and curiosities about translation for non translators.

LinkedIn remained as a plain cv. No interesting offers so far.

Instagram great tool, because when they make your acquaintance, they do not ask for your phone they ask for your Instagram. Advantages: nobody can lose your phone, Insta works as a business display and search platform. Just find a way to say it with pictures.

Website to show in detail all your show reel, combinations and clients.

Hope it helped someone see further. Click Agree to let me know it helped and how, or Reply to let me know you disagree and why. Thanks

[Edited at 2019-05-27 11:06 GMT]



This helps very much. Sometimes I think that personally I have to do the jump and try to get nearer and nearer to these instruments.
Above all in moments like these, where I see lots of uncertainity and instability, also in our job as translators. May be (yes, uncertainity)

Ciao


[Modificato alle 2019-05-27 12:08 GMT]


 
Adam Warren
Adam Warren  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 18:13
Member (2005)
French to English
I mistrust social media May 27, 2019

because of the security breaches. I have received four nasty - and unfounded - cyber-blackmail e-mails because of lax security practices on Facebook. Don't give in to these evil bandits if they try to extort money from you.

 
Susanna Martoni
Susanna Martoni  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 18:13
Member (2009)
Spanish to Italian
+ ...
Other May 27, 2019

IanDhu wrote:

because of the security breaches. I have received four nasty - and unfounded - cyber-blackmail e-mails because of lax security practices on Facebook. Don't give in to these evil bandits if they try to extort money from you.


Hi IanDhu
This is another interesting point of view.

Thank you


 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 18:13
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
No May 27, 2019

Aside from all these security breaches, social media doesn't really offer any job opportunities. One look at the jobs offered, e. g. on LinkedIn or Xing, is enough to wonder whether these people sending these job offers ever take the time to check if a particular job offer fits the qualifications. Just because I used to work as a translator in Civil Engineering doesn't mean that I qualify as a Civil Engineer with diploma. So why send me jobs as a CE or, even worse, as an accountant?

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Aside from all these security breaches, social media doesn't really offer any job opportunities. One look at the jobs offered, e. g. on LinkedIn or Xing, is enough to wonder whether these people sending these job offers ever take the time to check if a particular job offer fits the qualifications. Just because I used to work as a translator in Civil Engineering doesn't mean that I qualify as a Civil Engineer with diploma. So why send me jobs as a CE or, even worse, as an accountant?

And of course there's no need to discuss sites like Facebook. The news tell it all.

[Edited at 2019-05-27 14:37 GMT]
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Susanna Martoni
Adriana Sandru
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
Liviu-Lee Roth
 
Jan Truper
Jan Truper  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 18:13
Member (2016)
English to German
other May 27, 2019

I use social media mainly for distracting myself and not as a way to get work (my Facebook profile pic alone should suffice to send any corporate stiff packing), but I have gotten some valuable work-related info from Facebook groups that I've been a member of.
Also, social media profiles can serve as one element by which clients can check that you're an actual person.


Susanna Martoni
 
Andrew Morris
Andrew Morris
Local time: 18:13
ProZ.com team
It led me here May 27, 2019

I've always used social media as an extension of my professional presence, particularly Facebook. I'm not too bothered about alarmist tales of identity theft.

And my work on Facebook led directly to this job with ProZ.com, so for me at least it can't be all that bad...


Susanna Martoni
Hege Jakobsen Lepri
Elena Mordenti
 
Susanna Martoni
Susanna Martoni  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 18:13
Member (2009)
Spanish to Italian
+ ...
Well May 27, 2019

most of my colleagues tell me that they are useful, that they keep us in contact with external resources, potential clients, other translators.

And I agree with them, but another point of view is that they can be a loss of time and concentration and sometimes a kind of unreal and evanescent window.
As usual, there must be a stability in all things. Social media are perhaps welcomed, but with prudence.

I wonder in particular whether in hard periods with fewer proje
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most of my colleagues tell me that they are useful, that they keep us in contact with external resources, potential clients, other translators.

And I agree with them, but another point of view is that they can be a loss of time and concentration and sometimes a kind of unreal and evanescent window.
As usual, there must be a stability in all things. Social media are perhaps welcomed, but with prudence.

I wonder in particular whether in hard periods with fewer projects to translate they can be helpful to get more (advices, information, work).
Hard to say, again.
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Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 18:13
French to English
LinkedIn May 27, 2019

I made sure of keeping in contact with all my former colleagues. Many are now working in other agencies, and once I went freelance I only had to contact them to start getting work.

And another agency contacted me just last month out of the blue, and I have done several very interesting projects for them, so LinkedIn is definitely worth it.

FB is just to keep in contact with certain friends and to have a laugh, and I don't have any other accounts. A friend did send me
... See more
I made sure of keeping in contact with all my former colleagues. Many are now working in other agencies, and once I went freelance I only had to contact them to start getting work.

And another agency contacted me just last month out of the blue, and I have done several very interesting projects for them, so LinkedIn is definitely worth it.

FB is just to keep in contact with certain friends and to have a laugh, and I don't have any other accounts. A friend did send me a lead via FB once but it turned out that the potential client didn't have a realistic idea of rates.
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Hege Jakobsen Lepri
Susanna Martoni
 
Hege Jakobsen Lepri
Hege Jakobsen Lepri  Identity Verified
Norway
Local time: 18:13
Member (2002)
English to Norwegian
+ ...
Having an updated LinkedIn profile is important when clients vet you May 27, 2019

For the translation part of my life, LinkedIn has proved crucial as "proof" that I'm legit and a professional who actively updates their portfolio and knowledge base.
For my 10-15% dedicated to writing, twitter has been a great tool to connect with other writers and publishers.
I only recently started using Instagram and I'm not sure how/if it contributes

(twitter @hegelin
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For the translation part of my life, LinkedIn has proved crucial as "proof" that I'm legit and a professional who actively updates their portfolio and knowledge base.
For my 10-15% dedicated to writing, twitter has been a great tool to connect with other writers and publishers.
I only recently started using Instagram and I'm not sure how/if it contributes

(twitter @hegelincanada; Instagram hege.a.j.lepri LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/hege-anita-jakobsen-lepri-8231856)
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Susanna Martoni
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:13
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Not in my case May 28, 2019

Though I communicate with translators on LinkedIn, the site has never led me to a contact, let alone an offer. My best client found me through my website. I think a website is a must for any professional. For me, social media, even LinkedIn, are time-eaters. To stay visible, you have to post frequently, and that inevitably leads to distractions and more eaten than one can afford to lose and still meet daily quotas.

Susanna Martoni
Elena Mordenti
 
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Poll: Is it important to represent yourself professionally on one or more social media platforms?






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