Working in sports media, one of the quickest ways for me to evaluate a person is Twitter. Sports and Twitter go together like PB&J, so it's a quick way for me to gage who a person is and get a semblance of his/her credibility, along with personality.
Is this person producing his/her own insight or is just 100 straight retweets? Is the content being produced appropriate and interesting? Is there some level of audience engagement, or are the tweets just falling into the abyss of the internet? A blue verified checkmark can help, too, but as someone who's been trying to get verified for years now, I also understand it's not entirely mandatory (yo Twitter, help a girl out!).
Obviously, Twitter isn't the end all to be all. A great use of .gifs isn't going to be a make or break. I'll also look at personal websites, LinkedIn and other social media sites (Facebook, Tumblr, even Instagram) to try to get a more comprehensive feel.
The biggest three things I'm looking for:
1. Proper spelling and grammar is so obvious, and yet so overlooked. Don't let something as silly as a typo keep me from wanting to find out more about you.
2. Find your voice. The ole post-breakup cliche "there are plenty of fish in the sea," also works as a reminder that there are quite literally plenty of fish in the business sea, so how are you marketing yourself to stand out from everyone else?
3. I like to look at who people are connecting with, and evaluate if they are networking and linking with other professionals in the industry who help add to their credibility. There's a great book called "The Power of Who" by Bob Beaudine, and I would recommend it to everyone.
Bonus round: Just remember that everything that can be found about you on the internet helps make up your electronic file. You want your file to end up on the top of the pile, not the bottom. Think before you post, and always post with a purpose.
Jessica Benson is a sports anchor and reporter for WATN, the ABC affiliate in Memphis, TN. Follow her here: