As you begin and progress through your college career, you should start professionalizing your digital presence if you haven’t already. This might include starting a personal/professional Twitter account; locking down some of your more personal or private social media accounts, such as Facebook or Instagram; creating and/or cleaning up a LinkedIn account; and making sure you have at least one Gmail address that uses a professional name (e.g., first-initial-lastname at gmail, or firstname lastname at gmail). Given how easy it is to create a free website, you could consider that as well.
Some other tasks include making sure your public profiles look presentable in some way. Your Twitter and LinkedIn should have appropriate profile photographs, for instance (if you don’t want to include your face). Make sure your email signature is current and lists your name, institutional affiliation (university and class year or place of employment). Make sure your website, if you have one, includes an up-to-date bio and, if relevant, a CV.
While this can be a painstakingly tedious process—I should know; I started revamping my own professional website and never quite finished—it’s an important process to undertake. The sooner you begin, the longer you have to pull it all together. My own profiles are available as examples, if you need them, but for templates specific to your intended career, you can look up people in your field, see how they do it, and follow suit.
