My name is Steve and here is a little bit of background info
on myself and the social media tools I currently utilise. I am currently in my
third year at UC studying a Bachelor of Sports Coaching and Exercise
Science/Bachelor of Sports Management double degree and will continue on to
complete the final year of the Exercise Physiology and Rehab degree once my
original course is completed.
The main reason I enrolled into this double degree is quite
simple – I love sport! I love playing sports, coaching sport, watching sport,
attending sporting fixtures and ultimately I want to secure myself a career in
professional sport. There are many facets in my quest to achieving this, and
networking is a big part which I believe quite strongly in. Who you know is
equally, if not more important in some circumstances, than what you know. I
have used social media for several years now, both personally and
professionally, and it has provided an invaluable networking tool for both.
My background knowledge of social media is probably not
dissimilar to the bulk of society; generally believing it is a way to keep in
touch with and reach out to others. A way to share content with friends, family
and even strangers from all around the world which can be done instantaneously.
Initially when someone would mention social media my mind would head straight
to the obvious; Facebook, Myspace, twitter – but as time has gone on and
technology has evolved, it is very evident how vast and diverse social media
actually is, has become and can become in the future. Below are the social
networking tools I currently utilise.
Facebook:
My use of Facebook started out like most others, for social use. Whilst this is
still the main focus of my FB account, it has evolved to include networking
with industry professionals in my current field of study and interest. This has
become an extremely beneficial evolution of my FB use as it helps to keep me in
contact with professionals and on top of some of the latest and greatest
information and resources for my fields of interest. This is a major benefit
for me namely due to the immense popularity that FB enjoys essentially
guaranteeing that you will always find someone or something that can enrich
your professional life.
Twitter: I
do not recall when I first signed up for my twitter account but I do recall
when I really started using it. It was in one of my previous sports management
units that I took to twitter and began following my favourite athletes,
sporting organisations, international journals and the like. As twitter is
quick and easy to use with the ability to link, inform and connect with people
instantaneously it helps to keep me informed about the goings on in my fields
of interest constantly. Every time I reload my twitter home page there is
always a new tweet popping up… EVERY TIME!!! This continual influx of updates
and information is invaluable but I will mention one downside that comes to my
mind. It can be very tedious to filter through all the endless tweets you
receive to find one specific tweet, especially if you follow dozens of accounts
all of whom tweet like it’s going out of fashion. The chance of missing a tweet
you would have found very helpful and interesting is quite high, but the sheer
amount of contact with others is phenomenal – it can sometimes be worth the
time trawling through an endless sea of tweets to find one you want!
LinkedIn: I
have only started using LinkedIn within the last 18 or so months but this is
the one I feel has the most benefit professionally for myself and others. LinkedIn
has allowed me to network directly with professionals in my fields and
industries of interest and it has already shown how valuable a tool it is and
can be. LinkedIn has allowed me to network all over the world with industry
leaders and professionals from my fields of interest and this has been
invaluable. I have been contacted in regards to potential employment, business
opportunities and to link up with other likeminded people. It really is
essentially a ‘Facebook for professionals’, allowing you to directly network
all over the globe with companies and professionals. That is not to say that
this cannot be achieved through Facebook itself, it is just that LinkedIn’s
sole purpose is for linking professionals – there are no distracting games or
pages, it has one job and it does it very well. I can see myself using LinkedIn
throughout my entire professional career, its networking benefits are awesome
and for me, this is essential!
Well that is a little bit about myself and the social
networking tools I am currently using. I hope to meet some of you throughout
our semester together and hopefully we can all gain some useful and insightful knowledge
and skill from this unit to help us all in our personal and professional lives.
Cheers,
Steve
