10 | February | 2009 | Blogging is Ageless

I’ve always been a pretty private individual. I am very choosy on who gets to know what about me. And there are certain things that only I know. So when Assignment #4 for my Digital Media Driver’s License class showed up in my in-box I was a bit skeptical. I was to set up a Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter account.

I already had my Facebook account built. I’m doing pretty well with it. I get to:

see which nephew had a major hangover the Monday after Super Bowl
see which niece uses swear words like a sailor
and to be taunted by my sister who was on vacation in Florida on how nice the weather was

But it is a bit unnerving that complete strangers send me requests to be my friend. I actually had a request from a pizza restaurant. I have already decided that if you don’t tell your name and how you know me, you ain’t any friend of mine.

Right now I really don’t know where Facebook will take me. It seems like it is just a tool to stay in touch. I need more time to investigate all it can do to see how it could be a better tool available to me (other than a big black hole that sucks up time).

My next stop was LinkedIn. If I thought setting up my profile in Facebook was a bit much I had a rude awakening at LinkedIn. Though it’s funny how the universe will always put the things you need right front of you. I have been wanting to get my resume updated. Granted I still need a more extensive resume but this has my general career information out there where someone may see it and be interested enough to contact me. Even though it took me a few days to get it all finalized, my profile was reviewed by 1 person and showed up in 17 searches. Now, a very cynical person would say that LinkedIn set that up so I would be interested in upgrading to the Business level but the results where quite specific. I am seriously thinking of upgrading.

I’m at 85% right now and I can get another 5% if I get a recommendation. Well, to get a recommendation I need a connection to write a recommendation. I was able to access the HAP group (the company I work at) and request those I know to be a connection, but I have had only 1 reply at this time. My gut instinct is that many of them are on LinkedIn but they don’t check it on a regular basis. Guess I’ll need to send a few e-mails on Monday.

I also like the fact that I was able to link my blog to my profile. I really feel this will show that I am willing to step out into the newest technology which may be a determining factor for someone deciding who they may call on a job interview.

I am finding out that the further into this media I get, I see quite a few opportunities. I receive an e-newsletter from the Boston Print Buyers and in their last e-mail they referenced that they had a LinkedIn group. So I was able to join this group.

I am really surprised at how excited I get about this class and what I am learning. I’m trying to convince some of my co-workers to get a LinkedIn profile out there. Some are a bit cautious, but hopefully I can convince them.

At this time I feel that LinkedIn presents itself quite well as a tool that I may be able to use in my career. Who knows, I may even be able to find a new job.

Now its time to go tweet, tweet, tweet.

This is my cockatiel "tweet" Koko

This is my rosebreasted cockatoo "tweet" Rozee

I have a pet cockatiel and a rosebreasted cockatoo (those are birds) so anything call Twitter with posts called tweets sure does peak my interest.

As with the others I really wanted to spend some time understanding what it does and how you do it. I have read all the FAQs but once again I need fellow twitters to really see how this works and what I will want to do with it. Of course I follow Derek but I have only been able to add a few public ones. Guess I’m going have to do an e-mail blitz so I can organize this and make it work for me.

I have really been seriously thinking about how I can use all I have learned up to now. Right now these are just cool things to play with. I have found myself reading quite a few other blogs. I subscribe to about 8 of them that get sent to my in-box. I also have all my media classmates blogs in Google Reader and I try to read as many as I can. My biggest hurdle right now is time. Since I have a full time job (thank you God) I am limited on the amount of time I have to invest in learning all about this media. Each week I am more involved in using my time to complete the assignment than to delve into the subject.

I want to sit down and get a handle on what I want this blog to be and what is my point of view. I would really like to have a blog that makes a difference and not just a place I go to hear myself speak.

I know this is quite a long post and I thank all of you that stayed with it and read the whole thing. You know, I’m really going to be a bit hindered in Twitter trying to keep it at 140 words. Had to edit my very 1st post to make it. Now I’m obsessed with making all my tweets exactly 140 words.