Tweet Tweet

In my opinion, when I think of Twitter I think of an open social media conversation that any user can partake. Twitter is for anyone who wants to voice their opinion or facts about any topic. We can favorite, save tweets, retweet, subtweet, and follow friends, family, other people or, organizations. Users can also share articles, Direct Message other users, quote other tweets, and upload pictures and videos. Verified accounts is another function on Twitter. Certain accounts have verified blue check mark to verify to other users that the person is real. Mostly celebrities and politicians have this function because they are followed by a lot of people.  

This platform of social media holds high power because it voices users private and public perspectives. This is so important because it leaves a trail of what a user does, thinks, values, and supports. We can learn a lot about a user based off what they Tweet. In the link below this article can give a person an understanding of how Twitter works in an interactive way. The FBI interns of Albuquerque New Mexico offered to answers to questions about certain their honors internship program and the conversation went into a different direction.

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fbi-interns-twitter-albuquerque_us_59cca1e4e4b05063fe0f276f

Based on this article from the Huffington Post, my perception of Twitter stands. Twitter is a social media platform that allows users to have an open conversation with any other user under any topic. Users who were replying to the FBI by taking advantage of their professional help and turning it into a mockery. 

So can we be Facebook friends?

 Ahh, Facebook! One of the most successful and game-changing social media platforms. Facebook started when I was in elementary school in 2004. A couple years later as I entered in high school, Facebook was the way incoming freshman got to know each other. The "cool" thing was to see how many Facebook friends you can get. The more people you know the more popular you were. My parents were against me having a Facebook and I thought that if someone wanted to get to know me then, they can meet in the hallways and not on the internet. I liked my privacy but I also told myself someday I will eventually sign up and get an account.

 When I was 18 years old after I graduated high school; I got a Facebook. My parents were against social media but I knew that Facebook would help me connect and network with people.  Although Facebook was an older form of social media in 2014, I thought that was okay to be apart of the hype now. I knew to be careful of what I liked, comment and post. I knew that my private life would be online and I was ready to share who I am.  Reasons, why I got a Facebook, was because I wanted to have a change in my life and I also thought that I would have closer friendships with people from college than in high school.

Now of being apart of Facebook for about three years, I use it daily. I am in touch with people from overseas and other states. I like to see what my family and friends are up to. I am still careful with what I share and I try to limit how much of my time I spend on it. I am now more free with clicking the "Like" button but I am still careful because I know that I am being tracked. Facebook is also social media platform that I used for school purposes with class pages. I also use Facebook to share my interest of cute videos and "like" the photos that people post. 

Am I impressing you or not?...

Have you ever stretched the truth about yourself on social media? Have you used a filter to enhance your profile image or post something that you thought was funny but a lot of people thought it was offensive?

Our online decisions tap into who we are in face form. What we do and what we post, like, share, re-tweet is a reflection of our behavior and how to portray ourselves in an ethical way.

Ethical considerations that people should face to present to people online are their personal information such as your age, sex, and where you are from. A profile photo of just yourself is also a good is also idea because the person does not want to confuse you with someone else. What you post is also matters because it adds to your personality. It tells your friends and followers what your interests you have and what you care about. If you have a certain appearance on one social platform you should be the same with all of them.

Some of the pitfalls/dark sides of impression management are the photos, and posts that we get tagged in. These can give us a good or bad reputation when it comes to the job search. Another pitfall is that people may think you judgmental if you tweet or post your opinion all the time. Your followers and friends may like or not like what you have to say and you can be classified as that annoying friend on social media. If you alter your social media face to be a certain way when your real self is the opposite, it can cause some unnecessary drama. It can be messy on all sides. For yourself, for people who know you personally, and people who follow your online self.

Moderating what we say and share with our social media accounts is key. Therefore, impression management is typically in the back of our heads when we look at our social media accounts.

Google images

Top Ten Ways that College Students Can "Professional Adult(ing)"

The following is a combination of helpful tips about maintaining a positive social media profile and how to write effective emails:

10) Less (<) is more (>): 

When emailing a person, you want to be direct and to the point. The same goes for bio line or mantra line on your social media accounts. 

9) Make your profile pictures the same on ALL your social media accounts!:

This is an important tip because if someone is trying to connect with you and your profile pictures are all different they might be unsure if they are connecting with the right person. I recommend keeping your picture professional with a face shot. 

8) Screen names and email addresses MATTER!:

      To keep things professional, you want to have a simple email address such as janedoe2018@gmail.com. This shows employers and professors, that you are professional and want to have a good online image. An example of a bad email address is puddin-pants@gmail.com. Screen names apply to this as well. Do not have a screen name that you will regret later. People do judge you off your picture and screen name.

7) Formatting an email and post matters:

      When sending an email or posting a message on social media make sure you do not have text that is yellow and font size 20. People can read normal size font of 12 with black text. Be mindful of also what you want to stress. People can detect emphasis with bold, italics, and underline. 

 

6) Be yourself:

     When sending an email or posting on social media it is important to communicate clearly who you are. A simple "Enjoy your weekend!" is acceptable and meaningful. People can tell if you over compliment in any email or post.

5) Make yourself easy to be found:

      Adding an URL, a blog, or any other personal product in your signature is also helpful. This is a good tip because people already look up other people on social media or any other platform if you add your extra links to your profile or email signature you are beating them to the punch.

4) Go Anonymous: 

      This is a smart tip because you get to evaluate what the outside world sees on your profile. You can analyze what future employers can see. 

3) Always have the goal to be understood:

       This applies to both social media and email writing. When we send messages on both platforms know that it will read by somebody, if what you are saying makes sense, will it upset or annoy anyone, and does it take too much time for someone to read. These are simple goals to have before sending or posting. 

2) So what's the point?...

      This is important to ask yourself before you send your email or post online. In a social media setting people are judging you so be careful you are not offending anyone. As for email make sure that you are not wasting your time as well as the receivers time with a question, concern, or comment that you can figure out yourself.

1) Check yourself!:

Think before you hit send, share, post, like, comment, heart, follow, favorite etc.

      This is SUPER important for college students. Take a moment and look at your history. Anything that you post on the internet is traceable.