I want to use our online presence as a way to help us think through one big idea: who we are when we are online as educators. What do professors do online? Is there anything special about faculty members who are online? Does their use of social media differ from the general population? Do they also post pictures of their children food, and cats? In this presentation, I will discuss how/why academics use social media and online networks, and explore aspects of online participation that is unique to scholars. I will discuss the opportunities and tensions that exist in online spaces, and share recent original research that shows how small data, as well as big data, can help us make sense of professors’ (and thereby students’) participation in online spaces.