Sunday, September 19, 2010

Effects of Social Media

Social media have become a part of our everyday lives. A lot of people have become so dependent on it that they can barely make it through the day without signing on to it. Some people use social media to display their entire life, while other people may use it to connect with potential employers or employees. Using social media doesn't have to be considered a negative aspect of your life as long as you are using it appropriately.

Today, a lot of employers are using social media to recruit potential employees. So it is pertinent that college students, as well as those who may be entering the work world soon, be cautious of what they post because no employee want to hire a drunk, but they do not want to hire someone who lacks personality.

The soon-to-be released movie The Social Network is an example of just how big the social networking scene really is. Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, had no intentions of making Facebook such a large phenomenon. He just simply wanted a way for college students to be able to interact with their classmates and have record of their college experiences. I imagine he did not think he would be one of the richest men in the world.

I am currently reading a new book titled "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" by David Meerman Scott. He talks about the role that social media plays in the public relations world. He notes that PR practitioners can engage in social media to try and understand their target audience. This is a great way to see exactly how to approach them and which methods can work the best.


Yes, I am actively involved in social media. I use both Facebook and Twitter regularly, but I am very cautious of the things that I post.

6 comments:

  1. Kayla,

    Great minds think alike! Recently, I post blog about social media and its effects on society. I too believe that social media has become a part of our everyday lives. I can’t recall the last time, I’ve went more than four or five days without signing onto my accounts. I’m so into social media that, I decided to purchase a phone that would allow me to 24 hour access.

    I believe that social media is here to stay and it will continue to grow. However, many who use Facebook and Twitter use them in a negative way. Everything that you do and say can be used against you, so it is extremely important that you censor your activates. The younger generation tends to live in the moment and not think about the later.

    When I think about how various people dreams, visions, and ideas that have turned into reality; it motivates me to dream big so that I too can turn my dreams into reality. Dreams really do come true!

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  3. Social media is taking over! Many people don't realize that employers are using social media now, not only for research on the company but also for research on perspective employees.

    Anyways, I love how you can get hired to tweet and be on Facebook ! so cool. Almost every internship that I've had picked me solely to handle the social media.

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  4. I couldn't agree with you more Kayla. Social media has become somewhat of a trap and a comfort zone for most our generation.

    What we fail to realize is that at the end of the day, we're going to appl for jobs after college, so we have to be careful how we come across in the "social media" world.

    However, it's almost like we're not allowed to have our own lives anymore. Has social media really affected us that much? Do our future employers not have lives outside of work?

    How far is too far in the media world?

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  5. I'm so glad you wrote about this because this summer in my minority media foundation, a boy got kicked out of our program for publishing/posting vulgar, obscene, and racist content on his Facebook page and Twitter. It is no joke that employers are watching what's going on our social media accounts. Well, to make a long story short, he lost a four to five year internship with a Fortune 500 media company, scholarships, and countless connections to people in the media industry that could have helped catapult his career.

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  6. Kayla,
    It is very important that college students maintain a positive image on facebook and twitter for future business to view for a potential job. I do not agree that you have to be a boring person with no personality for a future employer to hire you. While you must maintain a good image, I also think that it is important to show some side of who you really are.

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