'Net'-Working for Your Own Professional Development

‘Net’-working for Your Own Professional Development

Helen Pownall

University of Manchester

15 July 2010

Outline

• Plenty of sessions on how we use social media with students, but what about us?

• What do you want to achieve? • Show and tell

– Different approaches– Different profiles

• What are the issues/challenges/concerns?• Create your online profile strategy• ‘Open mic’ showcase

Professional development:“The advancement of skills, knowledge or

expertise for professional growth through continued learning.”

Social media: “[…]a blending of technology and social interaction

for the co-creation of value.”

Key = developing o.s. by communicating, engaging, sharing, collaborating (i.e. community)

What can you do?

• Networking – building and maintaining relationships (for a purpose…?)

• Learning – gaining knowledge, understanding• Discussing – engaging in debate, chewing over

issues, sharing ideas and experiences• Collaborating – working with others on projects • Profile raising and influence…• But what do you want to get out of it…?

LinkedIn – if you only do one thing…

• Your online CV• Add contacts and connections• Join groups and participate in discussions

(UK HE Careers Professionals Group, graduate recruiters’ groups, sector groups)

• Ask and answer questions• Share stuff – link to Slideshare, blog, Amazon

reading list, Twitter• Build your influence• www.linkedin.com/in/helenpownall

Twitter – the virtual grapevine

What is it good for?• Finding out about stuff• Making new connections• Sharing ideas/info of interest to your followers• Joining in a big, open conversation• Getting quick solutions to problems• Straw polling…• www.twitter.com/helenpownall

Hootsuite – organising your communication streams

• Send messages to different platforms in one go (multiple Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook accounts)

• Organise and manage your Twitter streams

• Easily shorten URLs• Get stats of click-throughs• View your ‘klout’

Twitter – gathering, sifting and ‘re-tweeting’ information and communicating

www.twitter.com/helenpownall Hootsuite, an

application for managing Twitter

messages

Blogs – sharing your thoughts and knowledge

What are they good for?• Sharing your thoughts, ideas, experiences

and good practice on a particular subject• Demonstrates your knowledge, expertise

and interest (builds professional credibility)• Great for networking and profile raising,

especially if you cross link with others writing on similar topics

• http://careersintheory.wordpress.com

Delicious – sharing links

What is it good for?• Accessing your bookmarked web links

from anywhere• Categorising bookmarks loosely by

tagging• Sharing your resources with others• Seeing what sites are popular for

particular tags• www.delicious.com/ehlne

Slideshare – sharing presentations

What is it good for?• Sharing your presentations online• Tapping into others’ presentations• http://www.slideshare.net/helenpownall

GoogleDocs and Dropbox - collaborating

• Sharing documents (documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms etc)

• Collaborating with others anywhere• Different permissions levels – open

access/invitation only• GoogleDocs: work directly online

(Google’s proprietary file format)• Dropbox: work offline - synchronises with

your computer

Feeds – managing information

• Have the latest updates from your favourite news sites, blogs etc come through to one place, and categorise them the way you want (e.g. ‘general careers’, ‘media’, ‘health’)

• Use feed readers like Google Reader, Pageflakes or Netvibes

• www.netvibes.com/postgradcareers

CiteULike – sharing books and articles

• Find and share interesting articles online using a tagging system

• http://www.citeulike.org/user/davidwinter

What you’re doing now

• Write down 2 or 3 things you’re doing in terms of social media and professional development

• Share with the person next to you…

Issues and challenges

• Privacy vs openness - trust and credibility• Who is a friend/contact/follower?• More work – less time!• What do managers think…?• “I’m not a techie. How do I keep up with

technology?”

Things to ponder

• How far do you want to reach out?• How much do you want people to know

about you?• How much time are you able to spend?

– Dip your toe in when you need to or– Fully engaged – Something in between

Creating a strong online presence

The 4 golden rules:

1. Visibility – maintain a dynamic, multidimensional profile

2. Specificity – make it clear who you are and what you do (what are your specialisms etc)

3. Credibility – professional, relevant style and content

4. Engagement – contribute to professional discussions and ‘give back’

Your social media strategy

• Sketch out your social media strategy – mind map or draw…– What do you want to achieve?– What practical steps will you take?– Are there any challenges? (Reality check!)

• Share in pairs or small groups

Over to you – open mic…?

Contact

Helen PownallCareers Consultant, with special responsibility for web and

interactive technologies)MLP, Careers & Employability DivisionUniversity of Manchester, UK

• Email: [email protected] • Phone: +44 161 275 2828• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/helenpownall• Twitter: www.twitter.com/helenpownall • Slides available at: www.slideshare.com/helenpownall