Social MediaFINDING WORK, BUILDING BUSINESS

First Thing’s First

Do you have an email account you can reach from this lab?

You need to be able to:•Find your email login/sign in page by

knowing the address or searching for it.•Fill in your email address and password to

sign in.

You can’t sign up for any social media service without this!

Social What?Social Media is a set of services you use to share

things on the internet with as many or few people as you like.

• People have shared things online since the internet was born, but used to be limited in what they could share and who they could share it with.

• The internet has been around for a long time. Can you guess how long?

By the way, sometimes we’ll say “services,” instead of “sites.” Think of them as web pages that do things instead of just providing things for you to

read.

Social What?1969! Dude!

• That’s when computers started talking to each other using the Internet Protocol (IP) we use today.

• 1970s: Email allows people to have one on one or private group conversations.

• 1980: Usenet lets people post to bulletin boards that everyone can see. It’s still around, but almost nobody uses it – no graphics.

• 1991: Public start of World Wide Web, bringing us web browsers and web pages that everyone can look at. But you need to know HTML code to make web pages.

• So you needed to choose between private email or making a web page.

Then . . .

Social What?

• Web 2.0! This is a fancy term for new technologies that let people create web pages without special skills and easily share stuff. This stuff is called user generated content.

• It started in the late 1990s and early 2000s, sparking the first wave of social media including blogs and forums.

Social What?This lead to:

• Sites that let anybody put up text (Blogger), music (MySpace), pictures (Flickr) and video (Youtube), or a combination of all of them.

• Sites that let users choose exactly who to share it with: Nobody, one person, “friends” or the whole world.

• Services that let you subscribe to people, and mashes their content together in once place: your “feed.”

That’s modern social media!

Social What?

• Right now, the big three social media sites/services for job seekers and business people are Facebook and Twitter (just like they are for everyone else) as well as LinkedIn, a social media site designed for business.

• We’re also going to cover other social media sites.• We’re going to talk about integrating social media

together, and on different devices.• We’re also going to discuss the basic concepts that make

social media work.

FacebookIntroduction• Founded in 2004, Facebook was originally used by

university students to talk to each other. Ever see the movie The Social Network? It’s about that!

• You may already have a Facebook account – a billion people do!

• You need an email address to sign up for it. After filling out the form, Facebook sends an email to you so you can confirm your registration.

• Facebook is mostly about personal stuff, but there are also ways to talk about business through pages and other features.

Facebook ChecklistDid you:

Get a Facebook account?Fill in education and work information?

Make friends relevant to work?Check your privacy settings to make sure work

relationships can’t see anything too personal?Search for apps, groups and pages to help you

with work?

FacebookThe Basics• Facebook lets you fill out a profile listing personal

information.• You can also post writing, pictures and video, and

share it with everyone (public setting), or certain groups of friends. You can also see whatever your friends share with you on your feed: a page that collects all this information and updates all the time.

• You can send private messages to anyone on Facebook who allows it, or chat in real time with your friends.

• You can “Like” things you can see by clicking on the Like button, and comment on things to add your opinion.

Facebook

Facebook Friends• Facebook calls people you connect to “friends,” but

these may be people you don’t know very well. You might have a hobby, job or home town in common. You might just think the person is kind of neat.

• Keep separate lists for people truly close to you and people you don’t know well. You can choose which lists see your posts and information.

• “Tag” friends by typing their names into a post or on a photo. This will alert them you are talking about them.

• If you have a falling out or just want to cut down on the number of friends (Facebook lets you have 5000, tops) you can unfriend people. You can also unsubscribe so that they’re still friends, but you don’t see their posts.

FacebookProfile and Timeline• When you join Facebook, it asks you to fill out personal

information to create your profile page. You don’t have to fill everything out. Your profile has a web address (URL) just like any other web page open to the general public – people don’t have to be signed in to see it.

• Your privacy settings set what the public can see, and what different friends lists can see.

• Your profile includes your pictures, posts, pages you liked and anything you’ve been tagged in.

• Your timeline lists this stuff in reverse chronological order. It also contains life events listed in your profile, such as when you were born.

Facebook

Promoting with Pages and Groups• You can set up a Facebook Page about a topic. When

people Like it, it appears on their profiles. You can also add new information about the topic through its page.

• A Facebook Group creates a place where people can share information about a topic. You can make them for social clubs, hobbies and more. When you add more information, all subscribers see it.

• Use both to promote a business or organization, or even yourself, if you’re an artist or someone else who would have fans.

Facebook

Apps• Facebook lets you install apps (short for “applications”):

games and other special features that act like programs inside a Facebook web page.

• Take a look at Branchout and BeKnown. To find them, type their names in the Facebook search bar.

• Some apps have good reputations, some don’t. Learn about every app before you install it. Bad apps can expose your private information and pretend to be you to bother other people. Google it!

FacebookPrivacy• On Facebook, privacy is your biggest concern.• A privacy leak can not only embarrass you, but expose you to

criminal fraud and identity theft.• Check your privacy settings to make sure you only share

what you want to share. Type “privacy” in the Facebook search bar to find your settings.

• Whenever you put anything on Facebook, ask three questions:1. Who do I NOT want seeing this?2. Am I sure those people can’t see what I want to keep private?3. Could I live with it if those people saw it anyway?If the answer to any of these questions is I DON’T KNOW

or NO, think twice about putting it on Facebook!

FacebookEven More About Privacy• Use a strong password (see the handout)!• Facebook changes its layout, services and privacy settings.

Check them regularly, or whenever you notice a change in how Facebook looks, and make sure the settings still work for you.

• Keep your email address, phone number, birthday and current location private except to people you trust.

• Note that details like your phone number will show up in the smartphone contacts of anyone you share them with. You don’t have to give Facebook your phone number if you don’t want to!

• When you post comments to other people’s posts or they share your posts, they use their privacy settings – not yours. That means that someone you blocked from seeing a post might be able to see it anyway, though friends you have in common.

FacebookLooking Professional

• Many employers now check Facebook to find out about potential employees.• Never post:

▫ Pictures and descriptions of being intoxicated.▫ Nudity or pornography (Facebook screens some of this, but is not 100% successful)▫ Anything that in a professional environment would be considered cause for a human rights

complaint.• Check privacy settings to lock down:

▫ Venting about work or business▫ Family or social drama▫ Remember, comments to other people’s stuff can be seen by those other peoples’ friends and

maybe more.• Let people see:

▫ Any employment history you want to show off▫ Connections to past employers and references▫ Positive, respectful descriptions of your professional life.▫ Hobbies that you wouldn’t be afraid to talk about at the office

• Know your rights and responsibilities▫ The Ontario Human Rights Commission advises employers not to ask you for your Facebook

password, as it may be a violation.▫ Sharing your password is against Facebook’s terms of service and Facebook advises against it.

Some people keep a separate Facebook account for professional purposes only. Other people are very careful with what they share and who they share it with.

The solution is up to you.

FacebookWork Strategies• Tell people you’re looking for work, clients or partnerships. Be

friendly and honest.• Be interesting and funny. Nobody wants to work with boring

people. Think of it like the “hobbies and interests” part of your resume.

• Join or start pages and groups to promote your business. Post content to them frequently. Set a regular schedule.

• Request friendship with people in industries you’re interested in, but only if you are also interested in them as people.

• Try job apps such as Branchout and BeKnown.Facebook isn’t really a place to look for work directly as much a place to present yourself as a pro able to do the job, and meet people who might be able to connect you

to work because they like you.

Twitter

Introduction• Founded in 2006, Twitter started as a way to send text

messages to the internet. You can still send text messages to Twitter today, but most people use smartphone apps, desktop programs or web browsers.

• Millions of people use Twitter, including celebrities, politicians and organizations.

• To get a Twitter account you need an email address and you need to pick a unique username. You can add some short information about yourself and a picture.

• Once you set it up, your Twitter posts and a link to your profile appear at a web address: www.twitter.com/(whatever your username is).

Twitter ChecklistDid you:

Get a Twitter account?Follow people, job boards and other

organizations relevant to work?Start tweeting regularly?

Use @ to start conversations?Use retweets, hashtags and favourites to

increase your social profile?

TwitterThe Basics• Twitter is a service that lets you send messages that are no more

than 140 characters (a character is a single letter, number, symbol or space) long. These are called “tweets.” They are usually public, appearing on web pages for your feed and profile. You can set your account so that only followers you choose can see them.

• You can follow people on Twitter, so that their public posts appear on a page together in your feed. They can follow you, too. You don’t need permission to follow someone, but they can block you if they want. Anyone can see who you follow and your followers are.

• People use Twitter to comment on current events as they happen, have conversations and follow people important to them.

TwitterTweeting, Direct Messages, @People and Replies• You can post a tweet the whole world can see just by typing it in and

clicking a button unless you set your account to be private.• Send private messages to followers (nobody else) over Twitter using the

Direct Message link.• You can send a tweet everyone can see but calls out specific people by

putting @ in front of their usernames. This appears in the “Connect” section. For example, call out to Tekdesk’s Twitter accounts by putting @Tekdesk in the tweet.

• Hit Reply to someone else’s tweet and it automatically puts their @username in the tweet. You can then click on a tweet from that exchange and see others in the same conversation.

• If you put a web address in a link, people will be able to click on it to get to the web page its connected to.

• Twitter also has a “Favorite” button, similar to “Like” on Facebook.Twitter is all about real time conversation, like exchanging text messages, except that you can share this conversation with the

world.

TwitterRetweets, Groups and #Hashtags• When you want to share something you found on Twitter,

“retweet” it instead of using copy/paste. This shares it with your followers but gives credit to the person who found it. You can also see who else has retweeted it.

• When you put a hash mark (#) right beside a word (no spaces) it creates a link. Clicking on it shows you anyone who used the same hash-word combination. This is called a hashtag.

• When lots of people use the same hashtag, Twitter notes it as a trending topic, and posts a link for everyone to look at.

• Anyone can start a hashtag. TV shows, advertisers and other groups suggest hashtags. You can always make your own, though, and hope that other people use it as well.

Twitter

Problems with Twitter• Twitter has a lot of fake and hacked accounts. These may

post spam as public tweets, @conversations or direct messages. These may lead annoying web links or viruses.

• Short snippets and quick replies mean that conversations may explode into arguments. These make you look bad.

• If you annoy one person you might end up annoying their followers, too, and they might get unpleasant.

• Twitter is a bad place for negotiations or other important conversations. Use email instead.

• Caught up in the fast pace of tweets, it’s easy to accidentally post information that should be private.

TwitterPrivacy• Use a strong password!• Remember: Except for direct messages, everything is

public!• Never post anything you wouldn’t tell a random

stranger. • For the greatest safety, avoid posting your personal

email address, location and family information.

TwitterLooking Professional• Some employers look at your Twitter feed to learn more about you.• Follow people and organizations related to the work you want.• Never post:

▫ Links to nudity, pornography or material likely to give offence in an office. Don’t follow people who frequently post this material.

▫ Arguments, insults and drama▫ Venting about work and business

• Do post:▫ Questions and friendly comments for people in fields you want to get closer to.▫ Compliments and retweets of interesting things.▫ Hashtags you invent, and find other people using to start a larger conversation.▫ Cool things you find online▫ Your accomplishments

Some people keep separate personal and professional Twitter accounts. If you have a business where you are the main communicator, you should

probably set up a dedicated business Twitter account.

TwitterWork Strategies• Tell people you are looking for work. Post links to your resume or

LinkedIn profile.• Follow potential employers, clients and partners.• Follow organizations that list jobs or post information about the field

you’re interested in. Lots of organizations have official Twitter feeds. Check them out!

• Post questions and start conversations with successful people in your field. Use @ so that everyone can see them.

• Use Twitter’s search function to look for jobs. Specify location and the type of work in your search.

• Don’t be boring! Post about funny and interesting stuff as well. Do it frequently to remind people you’re out there.

Think of Twitter as a big common room where everyone is talking and can hear each other, but you need to concentrate

to “tune in” to conversations. Listen to work-related followers and say things that convince them to listen to you.

LinkedInIntroduction• Launched in 2003, LinkedIn has grown to become the major social

network for work and business.• People use LinkedIn to talk about their work history and stay in

touch with both friends and professional connections.• Employers often look at LinkedIn profiles in addition to or even

instead of resumes. • If you’re using social media for work, a LinkedIn account is

practically mandatory. You can present yourself, look for jobs and send messages.

• To register with LinkedIn you need an email address (as usual). This should be the email address you would put on your resume – don’t use joke addresses or ones you don’t want to share.

• LinkedIn has both free and paid services. The free service is still quite valuable – that’s what most people use.

LinkedIn Checklist

Did you:Get a LinkedIn account?

Fill out your profile?Make work-related connections?

Ask for recommendations from former associates?

Recommend and endorse former associates?Use the Jobs tool?

LinkedInYour Profile• Your profile is your online resume. It includes your education, skills and

work history.• Keep a copy of your resume and other work information on hand when

you fill out your profile. • LinkedIn profiles include many sections not found on traditional resumes

for pictures, portfolios, publications and more.• You may want to include a nice picture of yourself on your computer

that’s ready to upload.• If you operate a website you want to share with employers, post the

primary address in your profile.• LinkedIn provides suggestions on how to fill in your profile until it’s 100%

complete. Try to get it there if you can! It’s your professional presence on the internet.

• LinkedIn uses your profile information to suggest jobs in its Jobs tool, and makes it easier for people to find you and see your qualifications. The more you fill your profile in, the better the Jobs feature works.

LinkedInConnections, Recommendations and Endorsements• To connect to someone on LinkedIn you need to already know them

somehow or have a mutual connection on the site. LinkedIn lists suggestions based on reading your profile and email contacts (if you allow access).

• Don’t be shy about asking for a connection!• Once you connect you can meet more people and see their LinkedIn

activity in a common feed.• If your connection used to be a colleague, subordinate or supervisor,

they can recommend your work right in your profile, where other people can see it.

• Don’t be afraid to request recommendations! The best way to get recommendations is to give them.

• You can decide whether to make a recommendation visible to others.• When you list skills, LinkedIn will ask your connections if they endorse

them. This is a quick one-click process. Again, the best way to get endorsements is to give them.

LinkedInPrivacy• Even though a LinkedIn profile acts like an online resume, don’t

share your address or phone number. Save that for private messages with people you trust or traditional resume submissions.

• The best way to control your privacy is to take a close look at anyone you might make a connection with. If you’re connecting through someone you trust, probably okay to add them. If you don’t know your mutual connection well, think twice!

• Watch out for job offers that look too good to be true or where the nature of the work or compensation isn’t clear. Be especially careful of home businesses or “multi-level” opportunities. These are often scams, or as close to scams as they can get while remaining technically legal.

LinkedInLooking Professional• As usual, never post profanity, adult or offensive content.• Proofread anything you put in your profile. Run it through a

word processor first.• Choose a profile picture that reflects how you’d like to be

seen on the job.• If there’s part of your working life you don’t want to share,

leave it out of your profile.• People look at connections closely. Stick to connections that

make you look good.• If you want to connect to someone you don’t know well,

write a short note introducing yourself and explain why you want to connect.

LinkedInWork Strategies• Complete your profile!• Use LinkedIn’s Jobs tool! It’s pretty good!• Make connections with people in your field.• Don’t be afraid to ask for recommendations.• Add the address of your LinkedIn profile to resumes,

cover letters and other communications related to work.• Post updates mentioning that you’re looking for

work or clients.• Leave some room for the personal touch. Nobody

wants to work with robots.Always ask: “What do my listed skills, experience and connections tell partners and employers about me?”

Beyond the Big Three: Other Social Media

Dozens of other social networks exist. Some of them are specific to one region, activity or type of community. Others are just not as popular as the Big Three for one reason or another.

Examples:• Youtube is the most popular social media site for video, but

even though you can post comments and profiles there, most people just stick to watching videos.

• Nationtalk is a social news and employment site focused on First Nations.

• MySpace used to be the top social network, but lost ground to Facebook and other sites. Many musicians still use it, however, and it is due to be rebuilt with new features in 2013.

Other Social Media Checklist

Did you:Check out Google+?

Look into starting a blog through WordPress or Blogger?

Find important forums related to your work?Find job boards?

Find smaller social media sites that fit your niche?

You don’t need to do everything! Stick with whatever fits your personality and goals.

Beyond the Big Three: Other Social Media

Google+ -- The New Kid• Google+ is a social network by Google, Inc. – makers of the

Google search engine, Gmail, and lots more. It started in 2011.

• It’s growing rapidly – it now has 400 million users, compared to Facebook’s billion users.

• A Gmail account automatically gives you a Google+ account. It uses Gmail and other information to suggest people to add.

• Users make circles of connections, and can post so that anyone or just selected circles can see. These are a lot like friends lists in Facebook.

• To join, just click on your username with the + sign where you see it in Gmail, or register at http://plus.google.com

Beyond the Big Three: Other Social MediaOlder Social MediaSome older forms of social media can still be very useful for work and self-promotion.Examples:• Blogging is keeping an online journal called a blog. Blog is also a verb,

meaning to write and post entries. Blogs put these entries on web pages, listed by date.▫ WordPress and Blogger are the two most popular services, and let you create

blogs for free.▫ Tumblr is a newer service that also allows you to share other people’s blog

posts.▫ Blogging is a simple way to get information about yourself (like your resume)

online, and a way to publish writing, photos and other media online.▫ The more often and regularly you blog, the more effective it is.

• Web forums (also called bulletin boards) allow people to post discussions about specific topics, organized in conversational “threads.”▫ Different fields and hobbies have their own popular forums. Find these out for

anything you’re interested in by Googling.

Beyond the Big Three: Other Social Media

Job BoardsThese websites often have social features, letting you post that you’re looking for work, comments on postings, resumes and connections to other social networks. The exact features depend on the job board.• Craigslist

▫ Very simple board with jobs and “gigs” for short term employment as well as all other kinds of classifieds. There’s a different board for each city/region. You have to search separately in each place you want to find work.

▫ There is some adult/potentially offensive content. Most of it is confined to adult-labelled spaces or personals. Be careful of scams and do not post your real name or other critical personal information. Craigslist provides its own contact information instead of yours.

• Kijiji▫ Competitor for Craigslist more popular in Canada. Another online classified service.

“Cleaner” than Craigslist. Like Craigslist, there is a separate Kijiji for each city/region.▫ In addition to job ads, Craigslist also features items for sale and promotions from

local businesses.• Monster

▫ Job board that also allows you to post your resume.▫ Connects to Facebook through the BeKnown app.

• Workopolis▫ Job board that allows you to post your resume, and has other features.▫ Can connect to Facebook and Twitter.

IntegrationIntegration is managing your social media

presence all together instead of jumping from one service to another, or needing to use just

one type of device to get into your social media. Doing it all together whenever we can

makes it more convenient.We’re going to look at three types of integration:• Desktop apps• Mobile apps• Cross-posting

Integration Checklist

Did you:Get a dashboard app to see and post to

multiple social media sites?Get mobile apps to access your social media

from smartphones and/or tablets?Investigate other ways to streamline using your

social media, such as cross posting?

Integration

Dashboards and Other Desktop Apps• These programs let you read and post to multiple

services from your PC and some tablets.

Examples:• Tweetdeck and Hootsuite are social media

dashboards, letting you read and post to Facebook, Twitter and other services at the same time.

• Web browsers such as Google Chrome and Firefox have optional plugins allowing you to share content and post across multiple platforms.

• Many chat programs also allow Facebook chat, Google chat or both.

IntegrationMobile Apps• Mobile apps let you use one or more social media

services through your smartphone.• Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all have official mobile

apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone.

• There are third party apps . Only use these if you have heard good things about them from friends. A few that let you view and post to multiple services. Flipboard is one example of this.

• Android apps also run on Android tablets. iPhone apps also run on iPad. This portability is not true for Windows Phone or Blackberry devices.

IntegrationPosting Across Platforms

Many sites and apps give you the option to post “across platforms.” That means information on one site or service

can be used on others, and you can transfer information back and forth.

• Windows Messenger lets you use Facebook chat. So do some other messenger apps such as AIM and ICQ.

• Some Facebook apps let you post tweets to Facebook. • Some sites let you sign in using Facebook, Google or Twitter

instead of making a separate account.• Many sites and services let you share what you are doing or “Like”

them on social media. Look for the buttons.• If you are required to grant permission to access your account or

install an app, always read which permissions you are granting and decide carefully if you are comfortable sharing information.

Summing it Up• For work and business, the big three are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Facebook is

about who you are, Twitter is about what you say, when you say it, LinkedIn is about what you do. They are all about who you know.

• Manage Privacy: Always be careful about sharing personal information. You may want to have separate personal and professional accounts.

• Manage Reputation: Project a professional image in any feed a potential client, employer or partner may have access to. Don’t share anything rude and don’t get in fights online.

• Be a Straight Shooter: Tell them what you can do and that you’re looking for work.

• Be Cool: Don’t be a robot! Share interesting things. Don’t be all about business.• Be Generous: If you want “Likes” and “Favorites,” do that for other people.

Comment on things. Talk about other people.• Search: Use search tools to find jobs, groups and pages related to what you want

to do.• Integrate: Try out different ways of updating your social media presence through

apps and services until you find the best way for you to keep on top of social media.• Personalize: It’s all about you. Join the sites and post things that suit who you are

and what you want. Less well known forms of social media might be perfect for your niche. You may know how to get across special ideas like nobody else. Don’t be afraid to communicate in your own style!

Thank You!

Social media covers a huge group of sites and services filled with

opportunities, but it also takes time to get used to. Play around, protect your privacy and find out the best way for

You to use them.

Thank you very much for sharing this workshop with me. I appreciate it!

LinksMajor Social Networks

Facebook: http://facebook.com Twitter: http://twitter.comLinkedIn: http://linkedin.com Google+: http://plus.google.com

Pages and Groups on Facebook (use Search from your Facebook account)Tekdesk Peterborough• Technology Training. Content coming

soon.Kagita Mikam • Aboriginal Training and Services. Jobs

and training opportunities posted regularly!

Twitter FeedsCOIN: http://twitter.com/COIN_PtboTekdesk: http://twitter.com/tekdesk• Tekdesk training and social

enterprise.

BloggingWordPress: http://wordpress.com for a free blog, or http://wordpress.org to host your own (requires medium to advanced computer literacy).Blogger: http://blogger.com for a free blog.

Job BoardsCraigslist: http://craigslist.org Kijiji: http://kijiji.ca Monster: http://monster.ca Workopolis: http://workopolis.ca

Social Media DashboardsTweetdeck: http://tweetdeck.com Hootsuite: http://hootsuite.com

Don’t forget to look up apps for your smartphone or tablet!