Facebook and Linkedin

Last Tuesday, March 9th, UWW hosted Katie Felton from MKE Live and Emily Lenard from Wired Wisconsin. The seminar involved safe and effective use of Likedin and Facebook as viable social media outlets. The focus of the speakers was to optimize student’s Linked in experiences and to show how Facebook can be customized in order to strictly regulate what different visitors can see on individual’s sites.
Katie began the evening by stating that the idea behind deciding who can see what on Facebook is being driven by potential employers who want to search for their new hires to find the “real” them. By utilizing some of the safety features on Facebook, people can target different photos and albums and decide if they can be viewed by only friends, or anyone. Emily stressed that students should make their sites completely void of any information available to everyone, but to choose carefully. Employers searching for their interviewees should be able to find some general information that show them in the best light possible.
She concluded by repeating that people must be genuine and sincere when posting things online. However, everyone should consider how their boss or even their grandmother would feel if they saw what was being posted. If it’s not appropriate enough for work or grandma, it probably shouldn’t go up. She also recommended that students check out pipl.com and search themselves, promising that all who did so would be impressed and shocked at what they found (I searched my wife and myself, but only found my address: I guess my web-presence isn’t too strong).
The second speaker was Kati Felton from MKE Live. Several times she stated that while many people are leery to post a lot of information on Facebook, Linkedin should be info-heavy and use strategy to convey one’s employment or networking agenda. She offered some helpful hints, such as filling out the Specialties portion with searchable terms and tags so that individuals looking for someone with those qualifications will easily find the student. She also suggested importing your address book (something I have not yet done) and that this practice will not automatically send out invitations.
The seminar was relatively beneficial. It seems that college students in a program that is prone to information technology wouldn’t need a seminar such as this. Most in attendance probably didn’t learn anything new. If they did, it was probably because they haven’t spent enough time on Facebook or Linkedin. Students and professionals who are in fields not related to info tech would have benefited more from the program.