Friday 27 August 2010

Students and Grads: Finding Your Way In Social Networking

Social networking is a daily activity for most of us, but we sometimes forget that our actions online can very easily be traced back to us. Any websites that you have a profile with, any Tweets that you post, photographs that you upload and blogs that you comment on will usually be the first to appear in online searches...and you'd be naive to think that an employer isn't going to Google you when you apply to work for them.

If you are a student or graduate it is important to market yourself as you would a business online and create your own brand. You have core values, perhaps even a mission statement (what you want in your career) and it’s also worthwhile to continue the same avatar across several social media platforms. It’s not just enough to link up your social media channels, you must provide your online audience with continuity as well as an understanding of who you are and what you stand for.

Don't contradict yourself!

This is quite a challenge. As a student it is difficult to know what you want to achieve from the offset online and to add insult to injury it can be almost impossible to change your social media footprint once it’s there. One year you might be commenting on several blogs about how much you want to go into social media only to decide a year later that you are more interested in public affairs. Therefore it is imperative to be honest and inform your followers about changes you make to your direction and explain why.

I recommend creating an account with http://disqus.com/ because if you comment on blogs, this website will already have your history. Using Disqus you can review all the comments that you have made and even delete some if you need to (It may not be able to delete your comment on a blog but it will at least change your comment to anonymous).

2 comments:

  1. It helps to have a distinctive name, but everyone should check their Google search results from time to time.

    For you, it's 1) Facebook 2) LinkedIn 3) Twitter 4) Dorchester Local 5) Behind the Spin

    That looks professional.

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  2. Thanks Richard, I like to think so! I check my Google results a bit more regularly than one probably should...but as a jobseeker I guess I'm allowed :-)

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