Before UOSM2008 I was already using social media. However, as it turned
out, this use had little or no benefit to my future career. I’ve never blogged,
had only ~10 tweets, my Facebook profile was for social life only and the
LinkedIn was far from perfect. Below are given the online changes of my attitude
and presentation divided into main topics.
Twitter (https://twitter.com/Eldar994)
During the module time, I’ve realized the true power
of Twitter and started to target three categories of twitter accounts (Fig.1):
- The module classmates/lecturers, for communication.
- The companies I support and keep up-to-date with, and more specifically, CEOs of the companies, e.g. Microsoft, Apple, Intel, IBM, etc.
- Job recruitment agencies, e.g. GraduateJobFeed.co.uk, ProspectsJobs, TargetJobs, etc.
Figure.1
I’ve published ~170 module related tweets (~1-2/day). Now
I use the Twitter to share my posts and my LinkedIn updates. My about.me page
is connected to Tweeter as well (Fig.2).
Figure.2
LinkedIn (uk.linkedin.com/pub/eldar-alasgarov/67/621/636/)
My LinkedIn profile had most changes as my online appearance.
Firstly, I’ve customizing my Profile: changed
the picture, added my Twitter and Blog for communication (Fig.3).
Figure.3
Previously, I was targeting my friends. However, thanks
to UOSM2008 I’ve started to target management structures of the companies I’m
interested in and/or I‘ve applied for. In three months I’ve connected to more
than 370 people, mostly IT professionals, Recruiters, and HRs of the world
leading companies, e.g. IBM, Deloitte, Facebook, Siemens, etc. (Fig.4)
Figure.4
I’ve joined groups, both job search and IT related, in
order to be up-to-date (Fig.5), and
encouraged my friends to write recommendations (Fig.6).
Figure.5
Figure.6
After the upgrades, just in one week my profile was
viewed by 50 people and I’ve shown up 32 times in search results in past 90
days (Fig.7).
Figure.7
Blogger
During blogging topics were discussed with the
classmates via sharing and commenting on in each other’s posts. I’ve seen
different styles of writing and presenting, different approaches and opinions
on each topic. Based on classmates’ feedbacks, we were able to adjust and
reconsider our opinion in the topics’ summary.
Figure.8
Both with posts and comments, I’ve written 11,041 words. For a non-native speaker,
this is nothing but a good practice.
About.me (http://about.me/eldar.alasgarov/)
I’ve never used About.me and was quite surprised with
the power and simplicity of it. It gathers all social networks known nowadays
into one single page, which you can customize and add a summary. Previously,
when exchanging contacts, I’d have to give separately the email/Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn
profiles. However, now I pass to people my About.me page which contains all
information about me online. After improvements suggested by the classmates,
Kim Fenton and Francesca Gerard (Fig.9),
I’ve started to get hundreds of views on my profile every week! (Fig.10)
Figure.9
Figure.10
Topics
What about the topics covered in the module? Were they
useful? Definitely, Yes! And here is a small list of the lessons learned (Fig.11):
- Categorization of people into “Digital Residents” and “Visitors” isn’t perfect. There are people who don’t fall under these categories.
- The amount of online identities you have doesn’t matter, what matters is how you manage them.
- Tips to build/improve your online identity.
- We are responsible for the actions performed online as much as in real live.
- People do have right to “Open Access”.
Figure.11
Future plans
As currently I haven’t decided on the market I want to
focus on, UK or Azerbaijan, I’m currently targeting both and trying to expand
my network as much as possible. Once decided, I will use all social media
available to be in advantage against other applicants even before we meet our
potential employer.
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