Qa Alex Stamos Helloworld: When we’re introduced to a new person, it’s usually in the form of their social media handle. But what if all their titles were displayed in a list? Would it change your perception of them? Maybe you would be more inclined to follow them on Twitter because you empathized with the pressures of being a CEO Qa Alex Stamos Helloworld. Maybe your opinion on that person would change for better or worse.
These are the thoughts that Professor and researcher, John T. Jost, and his research team were going through when they decided to investigate how social media handles can accurately portray someone to others.
They began with a survey that asked multiple questions:
“When people say a person’s name and add ‘analyst’ or ‘professor,’ what do you think of the person?”
The following chart shows the results:
Question Weighted Percent who agreed “I evaluate this person more positively.” “This person has more influence than other people of the same status.
The first conclusion that comes from this chart is that we tend to value titles more than names. It’s interesting because the title only appears after someone says the person’s name; thereby indicating that the person’s name is more important than their title. This may lead to a question of if we’re evaluating our peers based on how they present themselves on Facebook, Twitter, or blogs?
The second conclusion is that when it comes to influence and status, people gave a higher score for titles compared to names.
This data led to their next question: Would a person’s social media handle change their perception of them?
The survey continued with the following question:
“Consider a person who you do not know but who has a social media account in your field. Suppose he mentioned his handle is “john_jost_analyst” or “johntheprofessor,” how would this affect your impressions?”
Everything else remains constant. The respondents had to imagine how other people would see that person’s handle. What they found was that a title did make a difference.
Just based on their social media handle, respondents thought that a person with a title would be evaluated more positively compared to someone with only their name. The chart below shows the results.
For every category, the chart shows that people perceived a person with a title being ranked higher, getting more influence and have more status than others of the same position who had only their Qa Alex Stamos Helloworld name.
So if you’re a public figure, how would you go about handling your handle? After all, you have to balance the need to have one (when it makes sense) with protecting yourself and your image (when it doesn’t). I suggest that you choose a handle that makes sense in your field while also being memorable. You can always change the handle later and keep the status quo.
Of course, there is an element of risk. The risk is that the handle becomes a long-term part of your identity. If you’re successful though, that could be a good thing to show off.
