Social Media

Social media is a main component of our everyday lives today. As Jerry Kane said in his TEDx Talk, "Social media, I think is here to stay and I don't think we've seen anything yet". We live in a different world when it comes to connecting with others. This new age of social media has been very difficult for me to engage in. I have always been a very private person and have only a few really close friends that I share things with. As Facebook has become more and more popular and my family and friends have used it to connect with me, I have had to reluctantly engage in Facebook. At first and still for the most part, I am just a Facebook observer. I will get on Facebook and see what everyone is doing and what is going on in their lives. Every once and awhile, I will post something, but very rarely. I have shied away from it. I really don't want all of my acquaintances and family for that matter, to know what is going on with me every moment of my life. I completely relate with Alison Graham in her TEDx Talk about how your family and friends think that you know what has been going on with them because they have posted it on Facebook. They think that everyone should know without having a conversation with them.

I can see both the good and bad effects of social media in the lives of my family and in my personal life. I have just begun to learn about Twitter and I have found it fascinating. I love reading the Tweets of the very interesting and educated people I am following. I have noticed that I can get on Facebook and get bored after just a few minutes. A lot of the people on my Facebook share too much of their personal information that just doesn't need to be shared. I enjoy less and less of Facebook. My new favorite is Twitter. I have noticed that I can get on Twitter and be enlightened and motivated by the groups and individuals I am following. I can, however, spend too much time on Twitter. I can see how it can almost take over my life. I am sometimes on my social media as much as my kids and just as Alison Graham has noticed, families can be sitting together and be more interested in the people on social media then on the person in front of them.

I know that social media is a very powerful tool to help change the world as Jan Rezab discussed in his TEDx Talk. He really opened my eyes to how powerful people can be and how one tweet can influence others. It also can be very damaging to companies if tweets go out from someone about complaints they have had. I, however, was very impressed at how much influence social media has on the government. Who knew?

How social media makes us unsocial | Allison Graham | TEDxSMU

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is going to be very useful to my PLN. I really had no idea what it was all about. I have only heard of it through invitations to connect with people on LinkedIn through emails. I would usually ignore them because I didn't really know anything about it and for the most part I have shied away from social media. So I have learned so much about LinkedIn this week. The first thing I learned is that it will be a great place to find a job. I didn't know that it was a place to connect with companies and people that are looking for employees. This is great news!
I have learned how to do a career search, and I can look for recruiter that are are working with LinkedIn and I can specify the locations so I can narrow it down to certain areas. I am going to work with LinkedIn more and try to connect with people I think will be important for my PLN.