Family History Through the Alphabet – G is For …Shameless Self Promotion

GeniAus was the identity I adopted in my early days on social networking sites. Like many other early adopters of Web 2.0 applications I was nervous about revealing my identity to the world.

After using sites such as Blogger and Twitter for a couple of years I realised that it was safe to come out of the closet and use my real name, Jill Ball. As long as one is sensible and remains aware of the dangers of sharing too much information on social sites I feel that one does not need to hide behind the anonymity of a pseudonym.... There are, however, the benefits to having a unique, short and snappy ID that describes one.

GeniAus, a genealogist from Australia, is how I am known in some genealogy circles and I continue to use GeniAus as my username in many online forums. I can be found in several places as GeniAus except for You Tube where someone else grabbed the name before me, if ever they delete that account I'll be ready to nab it.

There are benefits to having a unique identity; I have several genealogy contacts called Carol, a few named Kerry and a couple of Joans. I sometimes am confused as to whom I am communicating with, however when Cassmob and Dance Skeletons communicate I know exactly who they are.

GeniAus by Emily

On Social networking sites, instead of a real photograph,  I have continued to use a little pencil portrait of me done by my granddaughter about six years ago . I have considered replacing it with a photo but the portrait is such an important part of my online identity that I keep it. When I was considering changing a genealogy contact said to me that it is easy to find my photo on the Internet if one needs to know what I look like and that is precisely what people have done when we have arranged face-to-face meetings for the first time. The little portrait is an important part of my branding (especially good if I was breakfast cereal or washing powder). I have even put this image on my new business card!

The previous couple of paragraphs have been tangential to the original purpose of this post which was to tell you a bit about GeniAus ie indulge in Shameless Self Promotion.  I like the way this post has developed so will let modesty reign and omit the glowing advertisement for GeniAus.