by Oluwatobi Soyombo

Last week, I got a DM on twitter that looks similar to the one below:

…do you know any great developer in Lagos?

I thought about who I could recommend but I was just blank despite tons of developers around me. After few minutes of deep thinking, I remembered someone whose bio reads:

I’m a software engineer, a philosopher, and also an activist. I’m a very interesting person to meet also.

The first part was all I needed. Yes! Then my recommendation went his direction. You see, it’s funny that I can recommend a twitter follower I have never seen in real life. It felt strange at first but I quickly remembered this is the digital age. I may not have met him in the real world, but I’ve e-met him :).

An elevator bio, as short as it is works wonders (churchy language). In recent times, I have heard to go through the bio of several people both on Twitter and Facebook and all I can do is shake my head. Here are some for your perusal:

• “I am Me”
• ” ” (yeah, not a typo, I just didn’t find anything on the bio tab).
• “Jesus’ child”

In my opinion, the bio section is the place to begin your Social Media journey. It’s just like meeting someone for the first time, the first thing I believe you want to know is “Who are you”, or “what do you do”, depending on the situation. The same applies on Social Media platforms, only that your profile speaks for you. You see, don’t just assume your friends know who you are. These days, tweets fly beyond your immediately followers via Retweets and posts go beyond your immediately self via likes, reshare and tagging. So, you never can tell who will click on your profile.

Among other things, you will have to master the art of writing a short bio (elevator pitch). Here are two quick ideas you can explore while drafting your elevator pitch:

1. Let’s know who you are.
2. Let’s know what you do or what you have done.

Here are real samples you can use as a guide:

• “African. Social Entrepreneur. ICT for Development (ICT4D) Consultant.” – Gbenga Sesan
• “A style and fashion enterpreneur, the brand curator of the FACUADE brand; building a local brand with global reckoning.” – Tosin Olukuade
• “Digital Storyteller | Advocate of Social Marketing and Nation Branding | Designer of social change projects | Creator of The 419Positive Project” – Rosemary Ajayi