While most people around the world have been using social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn and the like for fun, communication, and relationship-building over the years, it’s important not to forget just how useful the networks can also be for your career, whether you’re actively searching for a new position right now or not.
In fact, the various online platforms where people go to share data, exchange ideas, make comments, and meet new connections can be the ideal place for you to increase your network of contacts and raise your professional profile. In turn, this can help you to land an exciting new role when you need to (or even when you least expect it), or to expand your customer base for your own venture.
To make your profiles more effective though, you will first need to make sure that your information is as complete as possible and always up to date, with full descriptions and quality, professional photographs used at all times. You must maintain a professional manner on each site (no pictures of you looking drunk or taking part in illegal or otherwise frowned-upon activities!) and you need to be careful about only ever posting accurate, truthful information.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your career today, read on for three handy ways in which you can take advantage of social media.
Networking
One of the first things you should start doing if you want to boost your career is network online. Social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are fantastic for this, and will help you to “meet,” and develop connections with, other professionals in your industry.
To do this well, it is important to firstly ensure you have put up a comprehensive profile on LinkedIn, as this is one of the most popular and beneficial social networking spots for people who want to find a new job or make good contacts.
On the site, you need to post your resume in an online format. It must not only be accurate and up-to-date, but also well written and properly formatted. As such, it pays to organize a resume evaluation service to check out your information so that you can be sure that you’re not making any mistakes.
Your LinkedIn profile should include things such as:
Your relevant skills and achievements
Recommendations from people you have worked with or consulted to in the past
A business-appropriate photograph of yourself (no social pics here!)
Some relevant examples of your work where possible
Keywords that relate to your industry and job area
Once you have all the necessary info posted online, it’s time to start working on building more connections. There are multiple ways to do this. It is a good idea to post regular updates about your career successes, new skills you’ve gained, training you’ve completed, events you’ve attended, or any other relevant news that will help to generate interest in your profile.
As well, make sure you join some of the LinkedIn groups which are relevant to your position or sector. Once this is done, take part in online discussions whenever you feel you can add a unique view on the topic or some useful information. This will help you to chat and engage with potential and current contacts and to develop relationships further.
Build Your Brand
Next, keep in mind that, no matter the industry you’re in, it is always a good idea to work hard on building your brand. Branding is not just for businesses, as many people think, but rather is also important for individuals too.
Most social media sites, but particularly Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, are fantastic avenues to help people promote themselves by consistently demonstrating their brand. The updates you post online and the profiles you set up for yourself can go a long way to create an image that will help to stand you in good stead throughout your career.
Recruiters, employers, and clients typically check out social media sites when conducting research, and can use the information they see to determine if you will be a good fit for a company or position.
On your online profiles, make sure that you are always consistent when it comes to branding elements such as the images, logos, font, and language you use. This will help you to develop your own particular “voice” that can set you apart from your competition. The image and summary details that you put on one social media platform should be used across them all, so that your style becomes easily and quickly identified and gives people an accurate idea of who you are and what you represent.
You can also further your brand by using social media sites to become an industry expert. Your posts are the perfect platform for promoting your skills, knowledge, and experience, as well as a variety of content that you write or collate, such as blog posts and articles, quotes, infographics, e-books, pictures, and the like. By regularly posting information that helps others in your industry and demonstrates your expertise, you will see your standing as an industry expert rise.
Model Dani Mathers has been charged by LAPD over a “body-shaming” image she took of an older woman in a gym locker room.
The picture of the 70-year-old was taken in LA Fitness in July without her consent and posted on social media.
Dani Mathers uploaded the photo to Snapchat alongside one of herself and the caption: “If I can’t unsee this then you can’t either”.
She faces a charge of invasion of privacy.
Image source Wikipedia
Dani Mathers, 29, could face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted.
She apologized soon after uploading the image, saying she thought her Snapchat post had been a private conversation and acknowledging that “body-shaming” is wrong.
However, Dani Mathers’ lawyer, Thomas Mesereau, is quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying his client did nothing illegal, neither invading anyone’s privacy nor violating any laws.
Announcing the decision to charge the model, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer took aim at “body-shaming”, calling it “humiliating, with often painful, long-term consequences”.
He said: “It mocks and stigmatizes its victims, tearing down self-respect and perpetuating the harmful idea that our unique physical appearances should be compared to air-brushed notions of <<perfect>>.”
Dani Mathers has been permanently banned from the chain of gyms, lost her job on a radio show and has faced widespread criticism online.
President Barack Obama has revealed that his youngest daughter, Sasha, recently mocked him on Snapchat.
He said 15-year-old Sasha had recorded him discussing the social network at a family dinner and then quietly posted a reaction to her friends.
It is not the first time President Obama has discussed Sasha’s online activities.
In July, Barack Obama said Sasha also tweets, leading several media outlets to try to identify her account.
It remains secret.
Likewise a copy of the described Snapchat post has not been made public. Messages posted to the app are designed to disappear after being viewed or within a short period of time, but there are ways to circumvent the restrictions.
Barack Obama recounted the latest event on Monday’s edition of the Jimmy Kimmel Live TV show.
“Sasha gave me instructions on Snapchat,” said the president.
“One night at dinner we’re sitting there, and I had read that Snapchat was becoming really popular among her age cohort. So, I said: <<So, tell me about Snapchat.>>
“So, she starts explaining stuff – you can make little faces on your picture, and this and that and the other.
“And at the end of it, Michelle and I are sitting there. And I said: <<Isn’t this interesting?>>
“And I started talking to Michelle about the implications of social media and what all this means.
Photo Reuters
“[And I] come to find out she was recording us the whole time, and then sent to her friends afterwards: <<This is my dad lecturing us on the meaning of social media.>>
“And she took a picture of herself sort of looking bored.”
The president added that the first lady – who joined Snapchat in June – and his eldest daughter Malia had “loved” the post.
Jimmy Kimmel joked that the event represented a security breach.
Barack Obama also mentioned that his own iPhone was limited to receiving emails and browsing the internet, and would not take photos, play music or make calls.
“My rule has been throughout my presidency, that I assume that someday, some time, somebody will read this email,” he said.
“So, I don’t send any email that at some point won’t be on the front page of the newspapers.”
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has been beset by a scandal over leaked emails, while her rival Donald Trump has been accused of using outdated software on his company’s email servers.
Barack Obama also said that he expected technology to preoccupy his successor.
“One of the biggest challenges… is going to be: how do we continue to get all the benefits of being in cyberspace but protect our finances, protect our privacy?
“How do we balance issues of security? Because people expect the government to monitor this enough to protect them from bad guys.
“But they worry that if government is in there too much, then who is going to protect them from government?
“This is going to be a big debate that we’re going to have for a long time.”
Snapchat has launched Spectacles, the company’s first gadget – sunglasses with a built-in camera.
Spectacles will go on sale later this year priced at $130.
The glasses will record up to 30 seconds of video at time.
As part of the announcement, Snapchat is renaming itself to Snap, Inc.
Image source Snapchat
The company’s renaming decision underlined its apparent ambition to go beyond the ephemeral messaging app, a product which is highly popular with young people.
An article published by the Wall Street Journal on September 23 showed Snap’s 26-year-old creator Evan Spiegel in a series of pictures taken by legendary fashion photographer Karl Lagerfeld.
In an interview, Evan Spiegel explained his rational for creating Spectacles.
“It was our first vacation, and we went to [Californian state park] Big Sur for a day or two. We were walking through the woods, stepping over logs, looking up at the beautiful trees.
“And when I got the footage back and watched it, I could see my own memory, through my own eyes – it was unbelievable.
“It’s one thing to see images of an experience you had, but it’s another thing to have an experience of the experience. It was the closest I’d ever come to feeling like I was there again.”
On September 24, Snap released some limited information about how the glasses will work.
Footage will be recorded in a new, circular format which can be viewed in any orientation, the company said. The battery on the device will last around a day.
A light on the front of the device will indicate to people nearby when the glasses are recording.
Prior to confirmation from Snap about the product, Business Insider published a promotional video it found on YouTube showing the product. The video has since been taken down.
Spectacles will remind many of Google Glass, an ill-fated attempt by the search giant to create smart glasses.
While Google Glass did get into the hands of developers around the world – at a cost of $1,500 each – the device never came close to being a consumer product. Google eventually halted development, but insisted the idea was not dead.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Snap is not treating Spectacles as a major hardware launch, rather a fun toy that will have limited distribution.
Yahoo is planning to invest millions of dollars in mobile messaging service Snapchat, which may value the start-up at about $10 billion, reports say.
Snapchat allows users to send images and videos that “disappear” seconds after being viewed.
The company is said to have rejected a $3 billion takeover offer from Facebook and other tech behemoths, including China’s Alibaba and Tencent groups in recent years.
Yahoo and Snapchat refused to comment.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo may invest about $20 million in Snapchat’s next funding round after cashing in from its stake in e-commerce giant Alibaba.
In 2005, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang bought a 40% stake in Alibaba for about $1 billion. It sold part of that stake during last month’s initial public offering, earning more than $9 billion before taxes.
Yahoo has been on an acquisition spree under chief executive Marissa Mayer, who has been looking to move it away from its reliance on search and make it more of a content provider.
Since joining in 2012, Marissa Mayer has overseen more than two dozen deals aimed at turning the company around.
Yahoo is planning to invest millions of dollars in mobile messaging service Snapchat
However, she has recently come under pressure from activist investor Starboard Value.
Starboard Value has been calling on Yahoo to halt its spending and consider combining with online rival AOL.
Last week, Yahoo bought mobile-chat application MessageMe, which allows users to ping one or many friends on their smartphone using emoticons and stickers.
Marissa Mayer also acquired blogging service Tumblr for about $1 billion last year.
MessageMe has said it will shut down in November, so that its eight-person team can work on mobile products for Yahoo.
Snapchat was created by a group of students at Stanford University in 2011 and quickly became popular among teens.
Facebook is now testing a similar feature that allows users to schedule the automatic deletion of their posts ranging from one hour to seven days.
Snapchat, which has little to no revenue, reportedly rejected Facebook’s $3 billion offer last year for being too low.
However, a tech boom in Silicon Valley has seen several privately owned start-ups receive eleven-digit valuations, including house-sharing company Airbnb and private car-booking application Uber.
Facebook has admitted that teenagers are becoming bored with the social networking giant.
Facing competition from younger, more agile and “cooler” apps such as Snapchat and Instagram, Facebook fears its long-term business could be harmed.
And as Facebook approaches its tenth anniversary the firm published its annual 10-K report last month revealing that its younger users are increasingly turning away from the multi-billion dollar business.
Published last month, Facebook annual report states: “We believe that some of our users, particularly our younger users, are aware of and actively engaging with other products and services similar to, or as a substitute for, Facebook.
“For example, we believe that some of our users have reduced their engagement with Facebook in favor of increased engagement with other products and services such as Instagram.
“In the event that our users increasingly engage with other products and services, we may experience a decline in user engagement and our business could be harmed.”
The sobering admission that they need to sharpen their public image comes as Facebook Director of Product Blake Ross announced in scathing terms why he was leaving the social networking powerhouse.
“I’m leaving because a Forbes writer asked his son’s best friend Todd if Facebook was still cool and the friend said no, and plus none of HIS friends think so either even Leila who used to love it, and this journalism made me reconsider the long-term viability of the company.”
Facing competition from younger, more agile and “cooler” apps such as Snapchat and Instagram, Facebook fears its long-term business could be harmed
Maybe because of the seriousness of his jesting post, Blake Ross pulled the message from his Facebook page.
However, it did not divert from the fact that teenagers are very often a plausible, but non-scientific barometer for trends – especially what is cool and what is not.
Indeed, the founder and of new social networking site Branch, Josh Miller, asked his 15-year-old sister for her opinion on Facebook.
Her verdict was damning.
“She tries to visit Facebook as infrequently as possible,” Josh Miller wrote, because it’s addictive, and because it’s not as fun as Instagram.
“Facebook may have an irreversibly bad brand,” Josh Miller concluded.
Web-expert, Laura Portwood-Stacer was more concise in her opinion of how Facebook relates to today’s teenagers.
“I think it has less to do with kids consciously looking for <<the next big thing>> than Facebook just no longer being a space that serves them,” said Laura Portwood-Stacer.
“I think kids are less self-conscious about trying to be cool than marketers would like to think,” she added.
Teenagers are turning to sites like Tumblr and apps like Snapchat and Instagram as their preferred methods of communication.
“Tumblr is mainly my obsession as of now,” said 15-year-old Collin Wisniewski to The Verge.
“It just seems more intimate and it’s not really a place of bragging, but more of a place of sharing.”
Apps such as Snapchat give power to younger users who do not like the idea of their images existing forever and tagged on Facebook,
“I would say that this app really is one of my major communicating devices more than really a social network,” said Collin Wisniewski.
However, this does not mean that teens are leaving Facebook similar in manner to the demise of MySpace.
They are simply using the service less and other newer products more.
And, of course, monetarily, Facebook owns Instagram and is still at the forefront of mobile device apps.
Snapchat said such “reverse engineering” was always going to be possible.
Using a widely available file-browsing computer program Katie Notopoulos, a staff reporter at Buzzfeed, found that Snapchat and its Facebook equivalent Poke could be used to copy videos temporarily stored on handsets before the apps have been used to view them.
The ability to send video via Snapchat was introduced on 14 December.
When videos were loaded but not opened Katie Notopoulos discovered it was possible to get at and view these copies when users connected their iPhone to a computer and used a file browser to look through its internal memory.
Videos sent via smartphone app Snapchat, which should disappear after a few seconds, can be preserved with easy to find tools
If videos were not viewed, she found, they were stored in a folder called “tmp” by Snapchat or “mediacard” on Facebook’s Poke. Copying the files in these folders to a hard drive stopped them being automatically deleted.
Snapchat is also available on Google Android phones. Katie Notopoulos did not try to find out if videos were preserved in the same way on such smartphones. However, earlier in December Snapchat did issue a patch for a bug that put permanent versions of unwatched videos into the media gallery on Android phones.
Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel told Katie Notopoulos that those who enjoyed the service the most would not go to such lengths to view videos.
“There will always be ways to reverse engineer technology products – but that spoils the fun!” he wrote.
Facebook later added that: “While Pokes disappear after they are read, there are still ways that people can potentially save them… because of this, people should think about what they are sending, and share responsibly.”
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Once you have all the necessary info posted online, it’s time to start working on building more connections. There are multiple ways to do this. It is a good idea to post regular updates about your career successes, new skills you’ve gained, training you’ve completed, events you’ve attended, or any other relevant news that will help to generate interest in your profile.
