Online presence on networking & social media sites

Online networking and social media are two ways people use the internet, and these two overlap to a large degree. I have long been active in both.

"Networking" can mean several things, but I've done a lot of it in a professional sense, especially facilitated by the internet. Some websites are useful for this as tools to help develop and keep track of my network, and a few of them build on information already online. So this attention to use of diverse networking sites also goes along with my approach to "own" what content there is online about me.

Since there is such overlap of professional networking and social media, I don't try to find a boundary here. They're simply listed together, but for a set of topically specialized sites. In general, I use LinkedIn most these days, and have shifted attention from X/Twitter to BlueSky and Threads.

Since this page's original creation in 2008, some sites have changed, merged or ceased to exist - these are also retained for historical interest.

Active pages (general networking & social media)

The general networking and social media sites on which I have pages are as follows:

• About.me. Set up a page on this site in 2013. A nice one-stop for links to my main activities.
• Facebook. I used to use this fairly regularly, but tend not to share a lot of personal and family information. In 2007, two colleagues - Tobias Eigen of Kabissa and Martin Benjamin of Kamusi Project - invited me to join. Certain features are very useful, such as the group and page features that I have made good use of (although some of those features have come & gone, losing content in the process). Current group and pages - altho some without recent activity - include:
  • a group for the North American Millets Alliance
  • the Beyond Niamey blog.
  • the Multidisciplinary Perspectives blog.
  • and International Mother language Day.
• JDN-Viadeo. I joined Viadeo primarily for professional networking in French, though it didn't turn out to be as useful as I'd hoped. JDN (Journal du net) apparently took over Viadeo.
• LinkedIn. This professional networking site is one that I have found particularly useful for networking and more recently for short writing on selected topics. The late Guido Sohne, an IT expert in Ghana, invited me back in 2003. I was skeptical about the site's concept at first, but it has proven itself (altho not for finding employment). A company page for NAMA created by a colleague and which I maintain, has been very useful:
  • North American Millets Alliance (NAMA)
• Pearltrees. A kind of bookmarking site that I joined in 2015. Have tried it out, but not used for some years.
• Pinterest. Created an account in 2012, but only in recent years have begun to use as a place to collect images related to selected research and writing interests, notably millets (several boards), the "ikigai" meme, the "double diamond" of design & variations, Arabic study aids, and Chinese-Hausa publications.
• Reddit. Began submitting links of blog posts in Sep. 2014 - Oct. 2022. This account has recently been disabled apparently for non-use, but I'll try to reset it.
• X/Twitter. Joined in April 2007 just to test it out, and paid it little attention until a couple of years later. Used a lot for certain news and posting from 2009 to 2004. Still monitor but don't post or reply any more
  • Secondary Twitter account, set up in late 2012 mainly for use during the year I was in Afghanistan. Unused since 2013
• Xing. Joined this in Nov. 2008 mainly because this site had a link with Zoom (see below), which I was already on. Most recent update in 2023.

Active pages (specialized)

• Academia.edu. Joined this in 2012 and have listed publications. Since this has gone to a paid subscription format, I use it less.
• Devex. Joined in July 2009, and attended Devex events thru 2015.
• H-Net profile. Set this page up in 2014 when H-Net switched to web-based discussion networks. (Need to be logged in to H-Net to view. Archived version.)
• Peace and Collaborative Development Network. Joined in June 2013.
• ResearchGate. Joined in 2015, but have yet to fully use (was originally focused on Academia.edu, which has a similar purpose).
• TakingITGlobal. Joined in Jan. 2009. Minimal info on my page there.
• Wikipedia user page on en.wikipedia.org. I have contributed a fair amount to Wikipedia (mainly the English edition), most of that in relation to work on support for localization in African languages, but also on selected other topics of academic, personal and professional interest. See "interwiki" links on that page for access to contributions to other language editions. See also the page on Wikipedia on this site.

Pages on reference sites.

• Amazon.com. This is an "author page."
• Library of Congress Name Authority File

Pages on changed or defunct sites

Some sites have eliminated profile pages, and others have ceased to function. Where available, links to archives of pages are given:

• Bright. Set up a page with this service some years before it was merged into LinkedIn in 2014. The URL, bright.com, now belongs to another kind of business.
• Del.icio.us. Had a page on this once well-known bookmarking site, but was already using it less by the time it went through some transitions and ceased to exist (background).
• DevelopmentAid.org. Joined in 2013 as a specialized location to post my development credentials. Maintained for some time, but in 2025 the page was gone.
• Digital Divide Network. Had a page on DDN from about 2007, but that site changed its URL, some years ago, and now no longer functions (background.)
• Doostang. Joined in 2008 as another location to post my credentials. This site apparently no longer hosts individual profiles, but now promotes a resume review service.
• Google profile/Google+. Originally set up this page in April 2009, when the service was new. Didn't use it very actively. Google ended this service in April 2019.
• iConnect Online. Set up user page in October 2012. This site - iconnect-online.org - was an initiative of the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD), which ceased operations at the end of 2015.
• Idealist. Networking site set up by Action Without Borders. Joined and set up profile in April 2009; did some touch ups in October 2012. The site has since done away with personal profiles, but facilitates locating organizations and activities.
• Klout. Set up a page on this site in 2012, mainly out of curiosity. The service, which ended in 2018, was intended to score and rank one's influence on social networks (background).
• Methodspace. Joined in early 2013 as a place to pose questions on aspects of research methods. Some time after that, they migrated to a new platform and apparently did away with user profiles.
• Ryze. This was the first networking site I joined, but I did not use it much after joining. Pam McLean of CAWD in the UK invited me back in 2003. It no longer functions, and I do not know when the service ended.
• Spoke. Joined in 2008 as another location to post my credentials (there was information evidently generated for the page by the Spoke system). Found no trace of that in 2012, so set up a new page. Most recent update in 2016. Checking recently, the domain spoke.com is for sale.
• Tech@State.[archived page] Joined in July 2012 just prior to the Tech@State conference (co-located with Wikimania 2012 at George Washington University). At that time I was active on unclassified government wikis in relation to contract employment.
• Zoom (ZoomInfo.com). This site aggregated info from online and there was info on me so I "claimed" it and made some edits, last updating it in 2014. That was no longer accessible in 2019.