branding

the most important aspect i've learned about writing a resume and even a cover letter for a potential job is to seem as genuine about yourself as possible. i was always told that you want them to want you even if you're not so sure you want them. i feel like some people either take this to the extreme or don't follow it at all.

i know a few people that are so worried about how they are portrayed on the internet that they detag almost all photos on facebook, just in case a professional contact happens to stumble upon their profile. they are so worried that they don't even let their personality show through in the interests and activities section where they are the only ones in control of what is written. no matter how much i think about it i cannot relate to these people, so much so that i've questioned a hundred times over what the difference is between professional and personal contacts. obviously there has been a difference, but in my reality i believe anyone can become a professional contact in some way or another. because of the evolution of social media and websites such as LinkedIn, it has become so much easier to advance your career through family and friends (which to my understanding are traditionally classified as personal contacts) than in the past.

but then there are the ones that don't hold any standards on the internet at all. in my experience i've noticed that younger generations more so than older ones, are those with no sense of professional behavior. my brother is 18 and some of the girls he has gone to high school with have posted many blogs and pictures that i would never even want family and friends who have known my personality for years to see. posting these types of things dilutes the actual personality that these people might have and leaves little up to the imagination.

branding yourself through social media can be difficult for some and requires a bit of work for others but i think that if you try too hard to control things you seem too clean and disingenuous. but on the other hand if you need some type of control and act otherwise there are obviously going to be consequences.

..and just for fun i'd love to be around when those kids try to get jobs in the real world

run awayyy

these new mobile technologies, as many have commented, have pros and cons. it seems as though the more revolutionary the technologies get the harder it is to keep them secure. but another thing that i almost have more of a problem with is how addicting some of these new technologies become. things like facebook and twitter and texts from last night occupy college students' minds for hours while they procrastinate from doing their real work. which okay, you're in college procrastination becomes a part of life sometimes...

however, when technology that involves your mobile phone is discovered by older generations it becomes a little bit of a liability. with tracking technologies they can know where you are at all times, it starts to get difficult to lie about your "sick" day...or with SMS technology which obvs has been used for awhile now, your boss can send you a message where you are expected to respond within a certain timeframe because they know growing up with technology like this, your cell is always with you.

mobile email is another issue that i've personally run into in the past. i only very recently started receiving email alerts to my cell and my experience with it is definitely up and down. but for work and even quite a bit with the university many exepct you to have 24/7 access to your email so that you know the latest about class and work schedules. so if you're on your way and the office is closed you won't have traveled all the way there and are disappointed showing up alone.

so close your eyes, turn around and run awayyyy (while you still have the chance since they haven't implanted a tracking chip underneath your skin...yet)

je ne sais quoi

i think that a huge problem that we have with the internet is that no one really knows what they sign up for.. match.com, e-harmony, and internet chat rooms make it easy for users to stretch the truth and manipulate the reality of themselves to impress and entice each other.

corporate blogs sort of have the same problem. most try and make their company look perfected and flawless, but in all realities there are problems that go on. by portraying false appearances through blogs it taints the reputations of the companies thus destroying the attempts for successful up-to-date technological social medias (which also helps aid the generational disconnect on the level of involvement technology can have to improve the company)...

...stop frontin'

accessible knowledge or wisdom?

web 2.0 critics are usually part of older generations but commonly they relate the idea that developing technology is causing younger generations to become less intelligent and less directly connected to their networks. the internet and other media technologies have allowed information to become accessible constantly without a lot of effort. but there's a difference between accessing the information and actually using it. this is what i would define as wisdom and it touches on what the older generations believe is being lost.

everyday experiences and using information that someone has come in contact with is actually learning the material. obviously depending on the situation, this knowledge can be applied in a variety of different ways once it is learned. older generations partly due to their lack of experience with the developed technologies don't realize the opportunities that web 2.0 applications create for all kinds of learning and grow. information that wasn't once available to many is now broadcasted publicly and though this comes with responsiblity the benefits of these new technologies provide a bigger chance for personal intellectual development than society's older ways.

what's the diagnosis?

Crowdsourcing is a neologistic compound of Crowd and a short for Outsourcing, for the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing them to a group of people or community, through an "open call" to a large group of people (a crowd) asking for contributions.

i saw a House episode one time where this idea came into play. one of the patients put his symptoms on an internet medical forum to see if anyone would respond with a diagnosis. now originally he did it without a monetary reward to which he received few responses, however he smartened up and offered $10,000 for the correct diagnosis.

until now i hadn't really thought about it in a business like environment but it's true. there has been an evolution of this type of community that promotes ideas and allows almost anyone participate. i have to say that i can see both sides of the argument about whether or not crowdsourcing really develops the smartest ideas because of the group.

i think that the community environment aids the people who need more information about the topic the most rather than solving the actual problem. individuals are the ones that have the ideas and promote more conversation separately, and the final result is from each person's effort. there are some people that don't aid to the positive development of a conversation so it's not possible to say that as a group we promote the smarter and more developed ideas compared to each individual input.

Untapped

after doing some reading it seems as though informal social networks are considered bad things in the workplace. few if any have set out to embrace the newest of technologies that support this more comfortable environment and it just seems to me that ignoring this type of evolution is not the way to go.

just because the elderly white-haired man (who is your boss) has never had a chance to experience this new outlet before does not always mean that he is not willing to try something new, especially now. although most are not open to technology as much as the younger generations are, there are few that fall in this category that recognize that to move forward changes must be made.

advertising...promotional items...penetration of markets...these are all things that have been shown to have benefited by the communication through informal social networks...this shows that there is no reason why a business that is has had a rep for being conservative or old-fashioned cant create a linkedin group page so that it compliments the individual pages of employees from their company on linkedin already...

it all comes fullcircle

every legend has their first..

"i will never blog"

...yet here i am, my name is rebecca wisely and i am an undergraduate student at american university in washington, d.c.

i am starting this for an itec class i am taking in my final semester and "on my honor, all posts on this blog are my own"