Social Networks and How I Use Them

As many of you know, social networking has taken the world by storm over the last decade and from what I can tell it's not going anywhere. I began my using social media about 10 years ago. I started the way most people did, with a facebook and myspace account. I still hold each of these accounts but I don't think I have signed on to myspace since January. Since I have started taking a social media marketing class in college I have become a part of several different networks. I use each network differently and modify the content accordingly. For example, I enjoy using my facebook account for keeping up with my friends, and family that I am not able to see everyday. I regulate the material differently on my facebook page than I would on a page where I would be looking for connections for jobs.

Through my social media class I have learned of sites such as Diigo, Twitter, Foursquare, Linkedin and lots more. Although these sites are also social networking sites I use them differently than I do my facebook and myspace accounts. I tend to use twitter as a "heads up" site. Tweets from different celebrities, friends, TV networks and organizations bring me slightly up to date and point out things that I may be interested in reading up on later. Diigo is a site that so far I have been using to keep in touch with my social media class via our group page. I also have been using diigo to bookmark research I have been doing for our current project. When using diigo you can bookmark pages and access them via the internet at any computer. The information I plan to post and have posted so far will be short and to the point. Until I have a better idea of how to use each of these I want to be extremely careful with how I am using them. The last site I would like to speak about today is Linkedin. Linkedin is a wonderful site in which you can extend your existing networks. On this site I plan to keep my information brief and professional, this will be the site I most likely send future potential employers to.

To finish up, social networking is a wonderful tool that once learned can be used by everyone. The most important thing to remember is, know your audience and keep your content relevant.