We Are Living in a Social Media World and I am a Social Media Girl!

Taking my Online Public Relations class has been one of my favourite classes this semester (and no not just because I know that my prof will be reading this blog). It's because I LOVE social media! I love to do it, I love to to talk about it and I love to get other people involved in it. I Facebook, I Tweet, I Four Square, I Yelp, I'm LinkedIn and I am constantly looking for what else is out there. It was only until recently that I realized how I could use these social mediums that I love so much to my advantage and build my PR profile by using them.

Twitter I think would be the one area that I have found my most growth in. When I first came to class my Twitter account was used for following celebrities and tweeting to my friends anything that came to mind. Most of which, I assure you, was quite useless information. I had very few friends using Twitter at the time and very few followers as well.

Making Twitter mandatory in class gave the opportunity to see what other future PR practitioners were tweeting about... and it was then I realized that I wasn't using my Twitter account to its full potential.

I started following Canadian PR companies and media outlets. I also started following guest speakers, like Mallika Chopra, before she came to class and added a few other guest speakers after they spoke. Not only has Adam Giambrone been helpful with the TTC delays but also Yasmine Kashefi's tweets are always a treat to read.

Realizing that I was building myself as brand I have started to become more conscious about what I send out to the world. Especially since I Googled my name the other day and my Twitter account was at the top of the list for all to see. I feel as though this could be used to my advantage when applying for a job, since everyone knows that's the first thing employers do when they get your resume, Google you to see what you've been up to. Having a Twitter account that is well thought out and adds something to the on-line world could give me a leg up on competition for a job. It also provides the employer to get a taste of what you're really like.

I am not saying I am going to stop following celebrities any time soon but I am trying to create a balance between my intellect and my shameless love for celebrity gossip. I believe that this represents me more accurately because I am interested in a variety of topics. So now I am tweeting and re-tweeting current events, breaking stories and other things I find on the web...But still expect me to tweet about celebrities gossip too...Did you hear that Glee is going to dedicate an entire episode to Britney ?! I re-tweeted that within seconds !