What digital platforms are students currently using to develop their professional network?
Students have become dependent on using digital platforms such as LinkedIn, blogs, forum chats, and webpages to develop their professional networks. PLNs can exist on any social media platform, but I think Instagram and Twitter are the most commonly used tools for students who are trying to expand their PLNs. These platforms are popular among students to keep up to date on news and information from people, businesses, and organizations that they follow. As a Co-op student, the Cooperative Education department at UVic encourages all the students in the program to use LinkedIn for your professional presence, Facebook for personal use and a blended personal/professional Twitter. The department does not suggest using Instagram for networking purposes but I am not really sure what their reasoning is. I personally think younger students are using Instagram much more than Facebook to connect personally.
What can you (as a student) consider to expand your professional learning network?
As a student, starting my professional career is something that is in the near future. To expand my professional learning network, it would be beneficial for me to build and improve my LinkedIn account as it is my only professional account. I made my account last year and I have been able to connect with people who I know and start building my own community. I could start changing my personal twitter account and making it more professionally focussed. I am not sure how easy this may be but I would need to go through my tweets and retweets and determine if it would be appropriate for an employer to view. After looking at Twitter from a professional viewpoint, I quickly realized that it was much more professional based than I thought. For example, a specific hashtag for a presentation can be tweeted to others to see who else is attending. You can also connect with other professionals around the world on a daily basis by following trending hashtags and topics within your industry. I could also expand my PLN by creating or building a personal brand. This would involve identifying two or three of my strengths or passions and focus my public online presence on these themes. This could be done with a personal website, or portfolio. I don’t use Facebook very much as you can see on my VR map. It doesn’t seem as professionally driven as LinkedIn, and many of my peers don’t use it to communicate to each other. I have always considered Facebook to be more of a social network to connect with friends so you can follow them but may be not to communicate regularly with. I know there are a few applications on Facebook that can be beneficial. I have recently started searching on Facebook Groups to find relevant groups that potentially could help me connect with professionals in a variety of industries to share helpful links, news, and material.
In your network, how can you create a digital identity/reputation?
I have been using social media for many years now and as I reflect on my digital identity/reputation, I can’t help but see how I have changed/grown as a person. I also wasn’t aware of my digital footprint until I started university. When I was younger, I shared information and pictures freely online and I wasn’t concerned with them being permanent. In fact, I was happy that information could be easily and quickly shared by others. Personal information like texts, video, photos, my name, address, phone number, sites I visited, comments and ratings on blogs and other sites, and what others post about me were not a concern. Now, I am constantly reminding myself to only post things that I would want an employer to see. As a member of the varsity basketball team, everything I post is also a reflection of our program. I am also aware that the Athletic department uses a number of digital platforms to advertise and if photos are used of myself, my personal accounts are usually tagged. This is another reason why it is important to keep a close eye on your social media accounts to make sure that your account hasn’t been hacked and your reputation could be jeopardized. Additionally, I have also learned that you need to be who you are. There is no advantage to exaggerating the truth so having a profile picture that looks like you, and a bio that is honest, accurate, and presents you in a positive way is important so it doesn’t come back to bite you. After looking at my VR map, it is apparent that I am a digital resident. There are positives and negatives to this but I have come to realize that my digital identity is always evolving. After taking a look at how I use platforms, it has become pretty clear that I should try and have two separate digital identities, professional and personal. I think if I try to combine the two, it would be difficult to prevent employers from seeing who I was 5-10 years ago. Having said that, if my personal and professional accounts were separate, I would have to know everything I could on privacy settings so my digital identity doesn’t blow up in my face!
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?
If I applied for a job and an employer was interested in finding out more about me, it would be easy for them to find my social media accounts but more difficult to view. The digital platform that would be at the forefront would be my Instagram and Facebook accounts but both are private. However, my Instagram profile has a link to my UVic basketball bio. If an employer were to search images, they would be able to view close to 100 photos of me playing basketball at various stages of my life. When I started looking through all these images, I noticed there were two profile pictures that came up from when I was in high school. These profile pics were used for an app that was trending at the time called askfm. If an employer were to view the two photos, it would not affect their decision to hire me but I will try to have them removed in the meantime. My twitter account is not an issue because I don’t really tweet my thoughts very often. I do retweet but never anything that could be considered offensive. It would be safe to assume that the jobs I will be applying for will have something to do in the field of recreation and health. An employer would see that I am physically active, educated, social, and I give back to the community. These are all things that make me who I am and for this reason, I would hope they would not hesitate to consider me for future job opportunities.
References:
“V&R Mapping.” David White, 13 Jan. 2020, daveowhite.com/vandr/vr-mapping/.
Wikipedia contributors. “Digital Visitor and Resident.” Wikipedia, 31 Dec. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visitor_and_Resident
Hi Calli,
I definitely agree with you on the matter that social accounts can be easily googled or accessed. Furthermore, the images we share on online accounts can often appear in google images. Obviously having your social accounts be easily accessible makes it easier to the employer to learn more about you but it also leaves you vulnerable to getting rejected as you may never know what material you have shared that the employer will seek as inappropriate. Also, how long have you been playing basketball for?
Nav, I have been playing basketball since I have been 2 and I have been playing at UVic now for 5 years.
Hi Calli, thank you for your insightful blog post. You mentioned how, “you can also connect with other professionals around the world on a daily basis by following trending hashtags and topics within your industry.” This comment truly has changed my thinking about hashtagging. I always saw it as something to only tag onto images and comments together for personal reasons. However, now that I stop and think about it, I do use hashtags as a way to follow certain topics, such as “Inquiry Based” “Reggio Inspired” “Loose parts” in my profession in order to increase my knowledge and share my professional thoughts.
I also wanted to mention that I enjoyed how you shared your personal use of facebook and how your posting has become more thoughtful as you age. I can absolutely relate to this from my youth. It also makes me think about the importance of adding “digital etiquette” or “digital identity training” to the younger generations. I teach in Kindergarten and some of my learners are already allowed to post youtube videos at home at the age of 6! Posting can start young, so it will be important to teach our children about why we post things and how we post things at a young age. I don’t want to scare them from using the technology, I want to inform them that the technology exists to expand learning and to show their understandings of materials. I want them to learn from my experiences of my evolved posting and how if I were not as diligent in the way I posted when I was young, my comments could have followed me for life and made a different image of who I am today!
Thanks again Calli!
I think it would be valuable for Middle school aged kids to have presentations or instruction on the use of social media at their age. Not only for their own safety, but also for their digital future. I think elementary schools could benefit from having an informational night or presentations for parents of this age of student. I agree that technology can be used to expand their knowledge and you don’t want to freak them out by telling them horror stories. However, if parents are more aware, then it could be their job to freak them out and not yours! LOL!
Hi,
I really enjoyed reading your post. I am also unsure why they do not recommend Instagram to grow your network as I know many people who have utilized Instagram to grow their PLN. For example, a friend of mine has actually used Instagram to grow her company and reach out to potential consumers. By this, she has actually had people contact her to be apart of this company as well. Furthermore, as we grow up, we become more aware of what we post online can affect our professional careers, and this is something I think should be taught in high school, how to use social media and the potential consequences of it. I was lucky enough to grow up with three older sisters who made me aware of this before creating my high school accounts.
I agree with you that this should be taught more in school, I think even kids at Middle school should be aware of the impact of their digital footprint can be on their future.
Hello Calli!
I very much agree that the uvic cooperative education department encourages students to use linedln as their professional image and facebook for personal use. At the same time, I also wonder why it is not recommended to use Instagram for networking purposes, perhaps because the main purpose of Instagram is to share some exquisite pictures, and there is a relatively lack of user awareness communication. Thank you for sharing your own case in the last question, which gave me a further view on this issue.