Social Networking

In recent conversations with close friends and family, the debate regarding social media networks as a professional tool came up. I thought that this would be an excellent start to my first Professional Blog.

Although we all know the pros and cons of social networking, I believe there is a sociological perspective which must be considered; self-projection. Networking via blogs, tweets, status updates etc. is merely a projection of how an individual would like to be perceived. Thus, we have many younger individuals displaying images of themselves having "fun" or what society would consider characteristic of an individual who likes to have fun. Certainly the best example of this is the standard "college picture," a group of friends with silly faces and solo cups in hand. Does the blogger or tweeter know that they are posting this image to compare or compete with others? Or is this a subconscious projection of how they would like to be seen by others?

Unfortunately, most people forget the consequences of such posts or images. Firstly, they never really go away. Sure, the probability of an image popping up 10 years down the line is slim but essentially when an image or update is put out into the network it is much like saving information on your hard drive- even if you delete it there are still remnants of the data left on the drive. Additionally, the element of interpretation can have lasting effects. Take for example that solo cup image, even if you really did just have water in there 9/10 times someone is going to interpret that as an alcoholic beverage.

So where does this leave us? Do we avoid the use of social media networking tools because we are paranoid that a potential employer or client could see an image or update of us that is a mere reflection of one moment in time? Or do we spend the rest of our lives editing our electronic lives by un-tagging images and removing updates in hopes that no one will see it?

I have to agree with my best friend, that no matter how we look at it we all need to use these tools and need to become aware of how they can benefit us. After-all, in the near future if you are unable to properly use these tools you will be drowned out and essentially unmarketable to potential employers, clients etc. On the contrary we do need to education ourselves on not only the use of these tools and the pros and cons they assume but also on what we are projecting every time we post an image, a quotation or are even tagged by a friend in an unforgiving image.

That being said, welcome to my first professional blog. I hope to use this resource as a method of expressing philosophies and theories of relevant topics to my career as a professor and professional adult life.