D., group member, gave us an excellent presentation on using social media websites, such as LinkedIn and Twitter for job search. He defines social media as mobile/web technology that enables interaction between users. Social media is widely used for fun, personal improvement, and professional development.
D. encourages us to think of LinkedIn as a "professional Facebook" that can help you keep in touch with your "work friends:" http://www.linkedin.com/. Unlike Facebook that mainly focuses on social aspect of interaction, LinkedIn geared towards using connections for professional purposes by allowing members create a personal professional profile and connect to other LinkedIn users. You can post updates and exchange personal messages with other LinkedIn users. Some group members expressed concerns about confidentiality and not being in control of information that is being put on LinkedIn. D. pointes out that the member can choose the privacy settings that he/she feels comfortable with. In addition, the member is the one who chooses what information to disclose and what not. Group facilitator advises to be mindful about accepting invitation to connect with other LinkedIn users as your LinkedIn network becomes a reflection of your professional presence. The general strategy is to accept invitation to connect from people you know or from people from your industry/field who potentially can be good work-related resource.
D. points out that through LinkedIn you can keep in touch with people who you might not be personally close enough to keep in touch with, such as your former co-workers or classmates. Although, you might not want to share personal information with them, you potentially can exchange helpful work-related information with each other. D. makes an example of using LinkedIn connection when he was considering a job at one company. D. noticed that one of his former colleagues used to work for the company he considered applying for and contacted her for a feedback. His connection's feedback was very useful and helped D. determine how to proceed with that particular job.
In addition, LinkedIn offers number of groups you can join. Some of these groups can be in the field you are working in and be a valuable source of up-to-date information, including job postings.
D. also reminds that not only people, but companies have their profiles on LinkedIn. You can do an industry or company research on LinkedIn, which can be an additional benefit when you are job searching or preparing for an interview.
Another social website that is increasingly used for disseminating business related information is Twitter: http://twitter.com/. The benefit of Twitter is that it can provide the most up-to-date information on any given subject. Twitter uses "hash tags" which are essentially keywords you can search it for.
D. encourages all group members to consider using social media for professional purposes. He points out that old-fashioned ways of promoting and looking for jobs, such as job ads in the newspaper, are used less and less by both business and potential employees. Learning how to use social media for developing your career can be a useful skill in our times.
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