Hollie's Hot Topic: Tweet it, Link it, Like it, Post it

Friday 4 November 2011

Tweet it, Link it, Like it, Post it

Like it or not we live in a technologically savvy world - not only in the traditional form of tangible technology but also the ever growing world of the web. Social media is literally taking over our lives! On Facebook alone the average user spends approximately 8 hours a month or 16 minutes a day!

You may be thinking that you’ve heard this before but social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and others are no laughing matter. We learned this week in Kathy Patterson’s class that your social media and its maintenance could be the difference between you getting a job or not. Employers now have the capability to be your friend, follow you, subscribe or even join your network. This means they get to see everything you post, link, like or tweet. Your profile says a lot about you – whether you like it or not. We should never forget that what we post is public and although it may seem funny at the time, it could be viewed by a potential employer and negatively impact on you in the future.

Another skill that many employers are looking for now is called “influence”. This basically reflects how influential a person is on different social media sites. This information is only a click away. New software called Klout is an online date base that gives you a score out of 100 based on your influence. The higher the score the more influence you have. Your Klout score could also be a determining factor in the hiring process.

Social media is a powerful tool that can help you or hinder your potential. Managing your information and using a common sense approach to building these sites might very well keep you (and me) ahead of the pack!