I have one more tip and this is really important for women, because research shows that we doubt ourselves more, we always don’t consider ourselves experts, we are less likely to volunteer to write articles or author things in our field. You can really look as social media as an opportunity to let your expertise shine. Social media is wonderful, especially blogs, because it does index highly in Google. So if you want to write a column for a blog about something in your field, it’s a great to get your name out there in a positive way.
MORE: Specifics to avoid, in terms of Twitter?
MA: Yes, in terms of Twitter, in terms of any social network if you’re going to use your company’s name, make sure you’re aware if there’s company policy or ground rules.
There’s a really famous recent anecdote about someone who Twittered. I think they just got hired at Cisco, and they Twittered “Yeah, I just got this job at Cisco, now I just have to decide if I can live with the really long commute and rotten job.” And of course, the hiring manager at Cisco got the Tweet and said this person’s not going to work for me.
MORE: You've written about being “technosexy.” What does that entail?
MA: When I wrote the column, I was thinking about a woman I know in her 60s. Technosexy is an attitude; it's about embracing technology that can help you, not being scared of it. Being sexy is being confident, and the thing I liked about my friend, she’s not your typical Mac user. But she loves anything Mac, she has all of the latest gadgets. She’s really proficient with it, she can tell other people how to use it, and she totally defies stereotypes. It’s about making technology work for you. She’s a busy person, she’s not going to sit there all day on every social media—she's going to focus on what works for her, where are her friends, what’s going to help her get done what she wants to do.
