For a while, I've had colleagues suggest to me that I add a link to my university webpage and/or SSRN page at the bottom of my email signature. I know many people now do this and some also include links to YouTube videos and other audio-visual materials highlighting their professional work. I generally haven't included anything in my email signature other than my contact details because I figure anyone who is really that interested in me can easily Google me. I guess this is because the only thing I ever seem to use other people's email signatures for is if I need their snail mail address to post something to them or their telephone number to call them. I haven't really felt compelled to click on html links to SSRN pages or personal webpages myself. So I wondered if others have thoughts on this. I've been told it's a good advertisement for your school to include an SSRN page link in an email signature, but pretty much everyone has an SSRN page now so unless people are actually clicking on those links to find out what you've written (and where it has been placed and how often you publish etc), does it really serve any significant marketing function? I mean, it's obviously not a big deal just to include it, but I do get rather annoyed at how long email signatures are getting these days particularly if you are having an email "back and forth" with someone and they haven't defaulted their email settings to not include the signature in a "reply" or "forwarded" message.
And obviously I know you can have more than one email signature and you can attach an appropriate signature for an appropriate audience ie one could use an email signature with a link to published works etc only when sending emails to people who might not otherwise know about SSRN (eg some practitioners who may not themselves post on SSRN) and use a different more streamlined email signature for other purposes. But who really has the time to change signatures back and forth on a regular basis?
I saw an email signature with a link to their law school's faculty profile page. That seemed okay - but beyond that it seems a little lame, trying to turn your signature line into an advertisement or a promtion. The link to the profile page seemed okay though - maybe b/c it was a school (employer) sponsered link, or b/c it was only one thing and it eliminated the clutter. (And, at the school's faculty webpage, there was an option to go to the SSRN page and all that stuff.)
Posted by: Rockfish | May 07, 2011 at 12:06 AM
My suggestion -- which is very close to what I myself do -- is to purchase jacquelinelipton.com, point to it in your signature, and then put all of the discretionary items (e.g., SSRN link) there. That way you can save space and attention by making your signature primarily consist of contact information.
Posted by: James Grimmelmann | May 07, 2011 at 09:18 AM
I sometimes add my snail mail address and phone number to an email, if I'm writing someone whom I don't know, but otherwise don't have an email signature. It does seem a bit unnecessary.
Posted by: Bridget Crawford | May 07, 2011 at 11:23 AM
Patrick S. O'Donnell
Adjunct Instructor
Department of Philosophy
Santa Barbara City College
721 Cliff Drive
Santa Barbara, CA 93109
plus: my phone number, a link to my new SSRN page, three e-mail addresses (one at the school above), and links to the three blogs I belong to.
This only applies to an outgoing message: in correspondence, the signature does not appear.
Posted by: Patrick S. O'Donnell | May 09, 2011 at 09:01 PM