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journal jabber 25
Feeling Twitterpated How College Students Can Utilize Social Media Networks by Sara J. Martinez
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n Twitter, you can watch a news story break, connect with professionals in your career field or talk about what’s going on in your life. You’re given 140 characters per Tweet (update) to express what’s most important to you at that moment. While posting Facebook-style status updates is popular on Twitter, 140 characters can be used in ways that strategically benefit the user. Lauren Rabaino, a sophomore at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and intern for the Center for Innovation in College Media, said students need to get started as soon as possible to make connections. “There is a niche for every type of person on Twitter, and that means endless opportunities to connect,” Rabaino said. There are no rules except basic netiquette, mimicking social media networks like Facebook and MySpace. Use discretion, and keep in mind who will be following you, said Steve Glynn of the Milwaukee-based creative agency, Spreenkler LLC. Drunken late-night Tweets and excessive use of curse words may deter prospective followers or contacts.
Rabaino said it’s important to build up your brand play the role of a news aggregator, a news breaker, and to create your own identity online. This leads a chat room, an RSS feed — it can be a social and a to ease of transferring a positive, employable im- professional network at the same time. age into the working world when the time comes. “We, as students, young minds, Gen Y, innovators, “When employers or recruiters Google a student’s whatever we want to call ourselves — we are writname, they should get the gist of what that student ing the rules,” Rabaino said. “We are defining the is all about,” she said. “The more active students way to use these social networks to innovate. are on social media, the higher they’ll rank on those search results.” “Everyone should hop on. Dive in. Join the conversation. Make connections. Get your name out Using Twitter to your advantage can help with there and make sure people know who you are and schoolwork, too. According to Glynn, the Twitter why you’re important,” she said. community is very helpful and actively responsive to personal inquiries. Students can find almost any You can follow us on Twitter:just add @MUjournal company on Twitter, ask for an opinion or infor- at Twitter.com/MUjournal. mation for research purposes, and responses will pour in almost immediately. For help getting started on Twitter, visit the Journal’s Web site, marquettejournal.org, to find some useful While correspondence with professionals may tips, “Twittiquette,” definitions and a list of recomhelp with research, Rabaino emphasized that this mended users to follow. is still a way of building contacts. “The more connections you make, the more you’ll know about your industry. The more you know about your industry, the more you can innovate,” Rabaino said. “And it’s the innovators who get jobs.”
photo by Greg Shutters
Glynn said messages should be relevant to the desired audience, and students should follow and Ben Leis, CEO of The Campus Buzz, recommendinteract with companies they might want to work ed that students find professionals in their field uswith in the future. ing Twitter and ask for advice.
“Talk about your skills and how they apply to the “Use Twitter to find people that share common inbusiness the company is in because that’s what terests or for people that can help you with somethey’re going to want to hear,” he said. thing specific, and ask them for their input and help,” he said. Spencer March, co-founder of the College Blog Network, said building informal professional re- According to Leis, the 140-character limit for each lationships in a student’s career field is one of the Tweet forces people to find the most efficient way best ways to utilize Twitter. to communicate. Whether it is to promote a résumé, to demonstrate work or anything else, a strong But it’s important to keep a personal side to your presence in this social medium can help you netTweets, Glynn said. Look for the right time to send work and build a positive image for yourself. a reply, and it can be easy and useful to network informally while keeping your individuality. Talking “Twitter is the single most powerful text-based about classes you’re taking, projects you’re work- medium in existence,” Rabaino said. “It’s ironic being on and research you’re doing is a good way cause it’s so painstakingly simple.” to maintain a personal yet professional brand on Twitter. It can be used for anything, she said. Twitter can
Check out our Web site for more Twitter tips and tricks!
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