Time to Learn: Social Media in Personal and Professional Life [Part 1] (01/23/2019)
Salutations, my Searchful Students!
Welcome to yet another series I'm starting on this blog! In Time to Learn, I'll be discussing several principles and theories as I pick them up in and out of school, giving you both the facts as well as my personal spin on these ideas. The principle behind this is not only to provide accessible, easily understood knowledge to those who don't have a solid grip on the presented topics, but also a way for me to seek out correction and knowledge. As such, if I make any errors, or I misunderstood a concept, or explained it in an odd way, leave a comment below and let me know what you think.
So, this first idea will be broken up into a few posts, as I don't want to bore you all with a massive amount of reading. Without further delay, I'd like to discuss is something I studied and stewed on for the past week, which is social media as it applies to both the business side of your life as well as the personal side. Additionally, I'll discuss the fine line in between those, how it can go right, how it can go wrong, and how to make sure you build up separate images on each that represent you in the best possible manner, yet stay true to you and what you stand for.
To start off, I'd like to provide a few terms for you that will make it easier to understand the following writing, as well as expanding your vocabulary, relative to Computing. The "personal brand' is a concept of the type of person you present through social media. For example, as a business CEO, you wouldn't want your personal brand to reflect a wild twenty-something year old who gets drunk and vomits in non-ideal places. Instead, (usually) you'd like to present a calm, collected professional who knows what he's doing, yet not so cold as to look fake. Creating a personal brand is a long, arduous, and thankless job, but it makes all the difference between being hired or turned away from a job. Additionally, the phrase "professional", as used in this document, pertains not solely to being an expert at something, but as well presenting an image that is considered standard or better in a work industry. Now that we have a grasp on the words and phrases to be presented, let's dive right in to the topic.
Whilst being in an industry with a high standard, it's imperative to present an image that communicates an understanding, hardworking, and intelligent individual. If you can successfully build such an image, you drastically increase your chances of being chosen for the job you apply to. As such, due it to being a massively important part of your professional life, there are numerous ways to get it wrong, and far less ways to get it right. One of the most critical mistakes a person can make whilst building their personal brand is something that I blundered into just recently, over on the CGBR Technologies blog I post on. This mistake, silly as it seems, is the mixture of personal and professional life. In my case, I had previously posted some personal posts on the CGBR blog, like Idea Time, and I planned to post the first Time to Learn on there as well. However, as I learned in class, this reflects poorly on a professional, and compromises my brand.
To give some context, imagine you were applying for a job, and the employer, as all employers in this day and age do, decides to search your name on the internet. They find out during this that on your blog, in which you discuss topics related to your industry, some of your posts get fairly opinionated. Political views, personal interpretations, etc. could even be subtly hinted at, and should they conflict with your employer's ideals, you are now at a great disadvantage in terms of receiving the position. Here is where we derive one of my Tenets of Social Media: Your business life should be separate from your personal life, and whilst reflecting who you are, should ideally be difficult to connect to your private or personal media account.
With this, I leave you to ponder the points I presented. As I stated above, please comment below to let me know what you think. Until next time.
With Great Power comes Great Responsibility,
- Dylan
Welcome to yet another series I'm starting on this blog! In Time to Learn, I'll be discussing several principles and theories as I pick them up in and out of school, giving you both the facts as well as my personal spin on these ideas. The principle behind this is not only to provide accessible, easily understood knowledge to those who don't have a solid grip on the presented topics, but also a way for me to seek out correction and knowledge. As such, if I make any errors, or I misunderstood a concept, or explained it in an odd way, leave a comment below and let me know what you think.
So, this first idea will be broken up into a few posts, as I don't want to bore you all with a massive amount of reading. Without further delay, I'd like to discuss is something I studied and stewed on for the past week, which is social media as it applies to both the business side of your life as well as the personal side. Additionally, I'll discuss the fine line in between those, how it can go right, how it can go wrong, and how to make sure you build up separate images on each that represent you in the best possible manner, yet stay true to you and what you stand for.
To start off, I'd like to provide a few terms for you that will make it easier to understand the following writing, as well as expanding your vocabulary, relative to Computing. The "personal brand' is a concept of the type of person you present through social media. For example, as a business CEO, you wouldn't want your personal brand to reflect a wild twenty-something year old who gets drunk and vomits in non-ideal places. Instead, (usually) you'd like to present a calm, collected professional who knows what he's doing, yet not so cold as to look fake. Creating a personal brand is a long, arduous, and thankless job, but it makes all the difference between being hired or turned away from a job. Additionally, the phrase "professional", as used in this document, pertains not solely to being an expert at something, but as well presenting an image that is considered standard or better in a work industry. Now that we have a grasp on the words and phrases to be presented, let's dive right in to the topic.
Whilst being in an industry with a high standard, it's imperative to present an image that communicates an understanding, hardworking, and intelligent individual. If you can successfully build such an image, you drastically increase your chances of being chosen for the job you apply to. As such, due it to being a massively important part of your professional life, there are numerous ways to get it wrong, and far less ways to get it right. One of the most critical mistakes a person can make whilst building their personal brand is something that I blundered into just recently, over on the CGBR Technologies blog I post on. This mistake, silly as it seems, is the mixture of personal and professional life. In my case, I had previously posted some personal posts on the CGBR blog, like Idea Time, and I planned to post the first Time to Learn on there as well. However, as I learned in class, this reflects poorly on a professional, and compromises my brand.
To give some context, imagine you were applying for a job, and the employer, as all employers in this day and age do, decides to search your name on the internet. They find out during this that on your blog, in which you discuss topics related to your industry, some of your posts get fairly opinionated. Political views, personal interpretations, etc. could even be subtly hinted at, and should they conflict with your employer's ideals, you are now at a great disadvantage in terms of receiving the position. Here is where we derive one of my Tenets of Social Media: Your business life should be separate from your personal life, and whilst reflecting who you are, should ideally be difficult to connect to your private or personal media account.
With this, I leave you to ponder the points I presented. As I stated above, please comment below to let me know what you think. Until next time.
With Great Power comes Great Responsibility,
- Dylan
Comments
Post a Comment
Tell me your opinion! (Nicely, if you can.)