Blog post 3

●  What digital platforms are students currently using to develop their professional network?

When it comes to careers, there are plenty of websites used to help people find jobs within their professional interest. Indeed is a well-known website where anyone can search for job postings near them and under categories that interest them. Additionally they can post their resume online to make it more accessible to potential employers. I used this website in order to find my first job and the setup was simple and I got hired very quickly.

A similar website to this is LinkedIn. Like Indeed, this website helps people build a professional network and find jobs that might interest them. The website also has an option to learn new skills that will benefit the user in finding the right job for them.

Social media like instagram can also be used professionally. Although it isn’t a typical job, there are many influencers who earn money for posting photos online. Influencers will do sponsored posts to advertise a product to their viewers and make plenty of money off of it. The type of content you make doesn’t matter as long as it gains an audience and the interest of companies that could potentially sponsor you.

Another way of making social media a part of your professional network is monetization of videos on websites like YouTube, twitch, and tiktok. These three websites all have different requirements in order to earn money. Youtube requires you to have a minimum of 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of watch time within the span of a year. Twitch requires you to have streamed for at least 500 minutes, have streamed on at least seven separate days, have a minimum average of 3 viewers, and have a minimum of 50 followers. Tiktok’s “creator fund” is possibly the most difficult monetization system to work with, as it requires a minimum of ten thousand followers, along with a minimum of ten thousand views in the span of a month.

●  What can you (as a student) consider to expand your professional learning network?

Depending on what I would like to do in the future, there are plenty of options. I can join MOOCs (massive online open courses) to learn more about things that benefit my career path, engage with other students participating in those courses if possible, join online groups on Facebook focusing on topics that make up part of my professional interests, use websites like Indeed and LinkedIn to share my resume and put myself out there, and simply use google to find more ways to engage with others and learn more within my field of interest. I can also use websites that allow me to ask and answer questions on topics that interest me and further engage in discussion on the subject matter. Websites like Yahoo Answers and Quora can be used in this manner and allow anyone to answer questions you or someone else might have.

●  In your network, how can you create a digital identity/reputation?

As mentioned in my previous blog post, our digital identity is how we represent ourselves online. We can have as many identities as we would like by creating separate profiles for different topics and different audiences. This concept is also used in our everyday lives, even offline. Most people talk to their friends in a way that is very different from how they would talk to others. We may speak very casually with friends, but depending on who you’re speaking to, you may filter your words differently. For instance, you likely wouldn’t use vulgar words around a young innocent child. You also likely wouldn’t complain about your job while you’re at work, knowing that your employer might hear you. These filters are also used online.

I know from my own experience using instagram, I can talk openly about some things on one account but can’t say a word about it on the other. A good example of this is my original instagram, which I used to post about some enjoyable times I had throughout high school. My audience was made up of my friends and classmates. As I preferred to look good in their eyes, I kept things simple, posting about some of my dance and choir performances and also some big trips I took.

Not a single person who follows that account knows about my other, more popular account, which focuses on video games. Throughout high school I felt like my classmates had something against girls playing video games, so I chose to keep the obsession to myself until I made an account using a different name and no face to post about these games. Here I speak very differently with my audience, as we engage in discussions about these games instead of stuff related to my personal or professional life.

●  Consider what a local employer would do if you applied for a job with them – can they search the content, is it of benefit to the career path, does it hinder the opportunity of employment?

Using online forums, I can develop a more professional digital identity separate from the identities I have created previously, but there’s always the risk that these identities will be discovered to be the same person. If I say anything inappropriate or unkind, this could affect decisions made by employers, and can therefore affect my career. With this in mind, no matter the subject matter of my accounts, I make sure to behave in a similar manner on each of these accounts. Although I’m sure I won’t find any potential employers through my gaming account, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t treat people with respect. Even with friends offline I treat them with respect because I don’t see any point in bullying my own friends, even if it’s lighthearted. Sure, there are some things I wouldn’t say online that I might say offline or think to myself, but it’s important to filter things out and keep things mature and professional, even on the most obscure accounts you might have.

References:

OCLC. (n.d.). Visitors and Residents. Retrieved from http://experimental.worldcat.org/vandrmapping/signIn