As you may know, I'm a professor at Columbia University.

In academia, the big deal promotion is to get tenure,

which basically means you can be a professor at your institution for life.

So it makes sense that the tenure process is really rigorous.

Those in charge have to decide whether they want to be stuck with you forever.

Lots of factors go into determining if someone gets tenure.

Producing great work is definitely a part of it, but not all of it.

You have to get all these letters from leaders in your field

decreeing you worthy of the promotion.

And these days, there's a new wrinkle.

It turns out it can be really helpful to have a presence online,

be it a website highlighting your accomplishments

or a social media account that shows the public wants

to hear what you have to say. Self-promotion can actually help you get a promotion. And when I was up

for tenure, that both terrified and horrified me. Let me tell you, I joined the world of social media kicking and screaming.

I don't always like people in my business, and I don't always like putting my business out there.

So I started and continued to ask myself, is there a way to think about this stuff differently?

How do you build an effective presence online

without feeling icky? I'm Madhupacanola. This is Ted Business. Our speaker today is Marco

Salazar, and he's here to help us get control over our own story as we develop an online presence.

He also makes the case for why this personal branding matters and why taking control of our

internet identities can be a professional asset. Then after the talk, I'll tell you how I managed to

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