This document discusses secrets to having a successful UCSF Profiles page based on analytics of over 1.2 million visits in the last year. The top factors that predict a popular profile are: 1) being popular, newsworthy, and well-funded; 2) being an active online communicator through social media and blogging; 3) including links to other professional websites; 4) including a bio and photo; and 5) adding slides and videos. Simply including awards, keywords, or education does not strongly correlate with more profile visits.

1. Clinical & Translational
Science Institute
5 Secrets of a Successful
UCSF Profiles Page
9/21/2015
Anirvan Chatterjee
CTSI at UCSF

2. UCSF Profiles is popular
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
Jan 2010 Jan 2011 Jan 2012 Jan 2013 Jan 2014 Jan 2015
Visits per month
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3. Really popular.
 1.2 million visits to Profiles in the last year
 Visitors include:
• NIH, NSF
• 100+ pharma and biotech companies
• 150+ foundations
• 1,500+ colleges and universities
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4. Visitors from the NIH…
 Visited UCSF Profiles 5,000+ times in the last year
 Looked at 1,000+ people’s profiles in the past year
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5. Visitors from other colleges/universities…
 Visited UCSF Profiles 140,000+ times in the last year
 Looked at 6,000+ people’s profiles in the past year
 This includes:
• Colleagues
• Potential collaborators
• Potential employers
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6. Visitors from the media…
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7. Where visitors came from in the past year
UCSF Campus
13%
San Francisco
Bay Area
28%
California
9%
USA
31%
International
19%
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8. How people got to Profiles in the past year
Google, Yahoo, Bing
UCSF.edu search
Other UCSF sites
Other websites
Other
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9. But that’s mostly…
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10. Not all profiles are created equal
 10th percentile: 10 unique pageviews a year
 25th percentile: 30 unique pageviews a year
 50th percentile: 80 unique pageviews a year
 75th percentile: 206 unique pageviews a year
 90th percentile: 471 unique pageviews a year
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11. What predicts profile popularity?
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your profile will be
ridiculously popular

12. What predicts profile popularity?
Factors that might predict visits:
1. Profile includes photo
2. Profile includes narrative/bio
3. Profile includes Twitter
4. Profile includes awards
5. Profile includes custom keywords
6. Profile includes Slideshare
7. Profile includes videos
8. Profile includes education
9. Profile include media mentions
10. Profiles includes links to websites
Factors to hold constant:
1. Job title
2. NIH PI status
3. School / Department
4. Number of years publishing
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13. Correlation is not causation
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14. 1. Be popular, newsworthy, and funded
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15. 1. Be popular, newsworthy, and funded
Items most of us can’t control (in the context of UCSF Profiles):
• Being a dean or chancellor
• Profile includes media mentions
• Being a PI on NIH grants
• Having many years of publishing experience
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16. 2. Be an active online communicator
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17. 2. Be an active online communicator
The kind of people who are sought out are the kind of people who
are already part of the conversation:
• Profile includes Twitter
• Profile includes Slideshare
• Profile include media mentions
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18. 3. Include links to your other websites
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19. 3. Include links to your other websites
 Blog
 Lab website
 Projects you’re working on
 Medical practice
 Studies you’re working on
 Nonprofits you volunteer with
 Departmental profile
 LinkedIn profile
 GitHub profile
 ResearchGate profile
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20. 4. Include a bio and photo
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21. 4. Include a bio and photo
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22. 4. Include a bio and photo
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vs.

23. 4. Include a bio and photo
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24. 4. Include a bio and photo
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25. 5. Add slides and videos
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26. 5. Add slides and videos
 Profile includes slideshare
 Profile includes videos
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27. 5. Add slides and videos
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Yanxin Liu • Postdoc • http://profiles.ucsf.edu/yanxin.liu

28. 5. Add slides and videos
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Jorge Arroyo Palacios • Postdoc • http://profiles.ucsf.edu/jorge.arroyopalacios

29. What doesn’t correlate with popularity?
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30. What doesn’t correlate with popularity?
Factors that don’t predict visits (but are helpful to readers):
• Profile includes awards
• Profile includes custom keywords
• Profile includes education
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31. The 5 secrets of popular profiles:
1. Be popular, newsworthy, and funded
2. Be an active online communicator
3. Include links to your other websites
4. Include a bio and photo
5. Add slides and video
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