Erik Hanberg, the first professional to present his success story of his online career to our class. A writer by trade and online social psychologist and mechanist by experience; Hanberg spoke of how he was able to have his novel placed higher on a list of popular books than those affiliated with a major publication company. Without going too deep into the specifics he acknowledged the website's ranking algorithm and played it to his favor. What interested me more than that was his experience with maintaining a work related social presence online and the downside to having one.
Hanberg recalled his experience with groups of online trolls who formed a loosely organized group to cause him problems in the real world. Sending falsified calls to his local police station to have the police-force barging down his door during the early hours of the morning was the story that stood out the most to me. I am amazed that an independent author of one future sci-fi series and one small business related series could garner enough attention to warrant a following of trolls.
Foremost, Erik Hanberg has taught me that to be successful in an online profession you must maintain a virtual identity.
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