If you're a ChEnected reader, you know that social media can be a helpful resource in your professional life - not to mention a fun way to connect with family and friends in your leisure hours.
CEP's January edition takes a look at how ChE's are using social media in"Getting Started in Social Media" (you can read the full article as a PDF here). Whether you are a veteran or relative novice at social media, I'm sure you will find new ideas, insights or useful tips in this article.
"Getting Started..." was a fun article to write. Not only did I get to reconnect with Cindy Mascone, CEP's editor-in-chief, I also had the opportunity to work with fellow Manhattan College ChE alum Rich Byrnes. Rich's day job is director of engineering at King Industries (Norwalk, CT), but he is also an amazing cartoonist who draws the Boil's Laws comic for ChEnected. (You can see the complete Boil's Laws series here.) Rich and I conceptualized Marissa, Joel, and Parker, the three characters you'll meet in "Getting Started..." He then somehow managed to find the time to bring them to life - check out the hard copy edition of CEP, where Marissa is looking pretty cool on the cover.
This article is the first in a year-long CEP series on social media. In the second article, you'll get the opportunity to see how Marissa, Parker, and Joel use LinkedIn to build their professional networks, connect with business prospects, and search for job opportunities. You'll also hear from Lisa Rangel, job search guru and managing director of Chameleon Resumes (Rutherford, NJ), about how to position your LinkedIn profile so that recruiters find you.
The third article will cover Google's latest entry in the social media world - Google+. After bombing out with Google Buzz and a lackluster U.S. performance for Orkut, Google seems to finally have differentiated itself with Google+, which combines the best of Twitter and Facebook.
Are you using Google+? I'd like to hear about your experiences with it. Please post a comment, and tell me how you are using it in your personal and professional lives, and how it stacks up against its competition. Include your contact info (name, title, company, city and state) and you may be quoted in the upcoming CEP article.
Comments
Hi Loraine, The use of applicable social media is becoming essential to organizational success since it has allowed all of us to participate in continuous professional dialogue. It is almost like an extended conference call with professionals from all backgrounds. I enjoyed your article, look forward to hearing more from other ChE's as to how they use social media, and loved doing the art work. Thanks so much for your kind words regarding the character development & art work, however you had the characters well laid out, I simply took notes and let the illustrating markers take over from there….. Rich
Loraine, Loved the article and I am looking forward to the rest! To answer your Google+ question - I don't currently use it that much. I have an account, but I probably haven't looked at it for a month or so. I have a couple of connections, one of which is a friend of mine that works at Google, specifically on Google+. I hope to use it more because my friend is involved in it. I just haven't spent enough time with it yet. Elizabeth
Rich, Judging by the poll results, it looks like most people identify with Joel - glad to see your artwork is generating such a buzz!
Elizabeth, Thanks for the feedback on Google+. I think many are like you: waiting until others get involved before spending any time on it. My thinking is that it will really have to be exceptional to overcome the lead Facebook and LinkedIn have. Just curious: why did your friend decide to get into Google+?
I also have a Google+ account and have quite a few friends with accounts. But I think that Google+ faces the problem that all social media has - it is only as relevant as the number of people that use it. To a certain extent it doesn't matter what games or apps there are as long as all your friends (or people that you want to be your friends) are there. Myspace ruled until everyone found fb more accessible. I think Google+ will have the problem of 'everyone has an account but doesn't look at it because all the action is on fb' until it finds a way to change the traffic flow. But it is difficult to build that momentum.
Robert, Thanks for your insights. I agree: it will be difficult for Google+ to build momentum.