When I picture my future, I see two groups of people: grad school professionals and government professionals. In grad school, I see theorists and academics; people who have written papers and novels about their work in security and intelligence. They might have been consulted for governmental issues but may not have done any work directly in a government office. I recently spoke with one of my previous political science professors at Pitt and expressed that I felt unfulfilled despite being prepared to graduate a year early and having nearly a 4.0 GPA. He empathized and noted how he often feels unfulfilled as well even though he has published numerous papers and a few books on political theory. I think many academics are searching for fulfillment and do so through their continued research and work. That said, most of the political science professors I have known have had laid-back personalities. This personality attribute is inherent in the way they dress, which is typically some variation of jeans and a sweater. Grad school professionals are likely middle-aged to older. They tend to be passionate about their work and willing to give advice, though they are more concerned with their own research than the work of their students. This is not a negative quality nor something meant to indicate that they overlook their students; rather, it shows how invested they are in their specific field. I need to be specific about my field when presenting myself online.
The second group I need to consider is my future employer: the US government, specifically (and hopefully) the Department of Defense. I hope to work in some line of national security and/or intelligence collection, stay behind the scenes and have security clearance. The people who work behind the scenes in government likely do not have much of a social media presence, if any. I picture them as being older, almost at retirement age, and very experienced, possibly doing work internationally (either for an international organization or the US government directly). They likely dress in professional attire. Demographically, I picture an older white man; this is going based off the general demographic of US politicians and could be a wrong assumption. They probably have a wife and grown children who attend some high-level, expensive, possibly Ivy League university. This person has spent their entire life working in politics, so they are extremely knowledgeable of all aspects of government.
My goal is different in relation to both individuals: I need to relate to the grad school professional while I need to demonstrate my capability to the employer. In a grad school interview, I could bring up the research of the interviewer if I know who it is beforehand. If not, I could still bring up some line of research of a particular staff member at the university to show a vested interest in that field. In social media, I need to present an interest in a specific field, possibly referencing some specific work. Contrastingly, the future employer themself might not be present on social media, but my digital footprint will be examined when I am screened for a government position, so I need to keep my postings tame and "vanilla," for lack of a better word.
Something I fear in presenting a professional face in social media is losing my formality. I write with a very formal style and it has been difficult to unlearn these habits while attempting different types of writing. I see this challenge infiltrating my presence on social media where the traditional style is not formal and shows each users personality. In class, you mentioned that we should not sound like robots in our public faces; admittedly, I have been compared to a robot by a lot of my friends, professors, and peers because of my straightforward personality. My biggest challenge going forward is to loosen up and allow myself to write on social media with some more ease than I do in the academic setting because that will show my humanity online.