Reflection Post

Wow! What a semester it has been! Such a lively and entertaining class to be part of! Our ALES 204 class has learned so much in regards to communication, social media and being professional. ALES 204 was a very valuable class to take in order to learn more about how social networking will impact us in the future!

Favorite part of the course? Using Twitter for marks! It was so much fun to use Twitter in a course. I found it helpful to read what others thoughts were on the material and I also enjoyed seeing others use Twitter for the first time. I have had Twitter for a few years now and I now have 826 followers! It is amazing what you can do when you have numerous followers. For my job last year, I was paid to tweet for YoungFreeAlberta.com and we had almost 3,000 followers to our Twitter page! If I wanted to know what the road conditions were, I would tweet out, and receive three or four responses in a matter of minutes! So cool and useful! I'm truly glad that students had to get this and can experience how fun Twitter is. I think that the people who 'hate' Twitter the most... end up liking it the most!! I also loved telling other students at the University that I was tweeting for marks!! Let's just say... they were more than jealous.

Besides the skills I learned in public speaking, presenting, interviewing and e-mail writing, I think I most valued about ALES 204 was the the online tools that we learned about. LinkedIn, Delicious, Google Docs and Wikipedia... all tools that I didn't use before but I will now! Since getting LinkedIn, I have connected with 35 people and that number continues to grow! I love being connected to people that I used to work with on a professional level. Google Docs is another tool that saved me this semester. Works so well with group projects! Saved me and my groups lots of stress and I will definitely be using it again in the future!

Overall, this was a very useful course to take and I am glad that I took it after they changed the platform. Much more interesting with social media added into the curriculum! I think that next time this is offered you all should include YouTube as a subject to be covered as well! YouTube is one of the most visited websites on the internet and can be used in a professional manner as well. Definitely worth looking into! Thanks to Jessica and my T.A. Obi for taking the time to teach this course because I think we will all be able to take a lot away from this class!

Here are the links to the comments I have made on other blog posts:

• Madeleine
• Julie
• Annalise
• Jasmeena
• Nicole
• Katy

Here is a video that Professor Jessica Laccetti asked Annalise Young, Julianna Damer and I to put together for the last day of class. It is a video that sums up the course and looks at how we can use ALES 204 in the future. Check it out!

And to conclude, here are some famous quotes from influential bloggers and experts on social media.

“How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?”- Seth Godin, Seth's Blog

“Social networks aren’t about Web sites. They’re about experiences." - Mike DiLorenzo, NHL social media marketing director 

“More companies are discovering that an über-connected workplace is not just about implementing a new set of tools — it is also about embracing a cultural shift to create an open environment where employees are encouraged to share, innovate and collaborate virtually.” - Karie Willyerd & Jeanne C. Meister, HarvardBusiness.org 

“Networking is not about hunting. It is about farming. It’s about cultivating relationships. Don’t engage in ‘premature solicitation’. You’ll be a better networker if you remember that.” -Dr. Ivan Misner, NY bestselling author & founder of BNI

Thanks for reading my blog!

Social Media Revolution!

Very interesting! Check it out!

Vlog!

Here is a vlog that Annalise Young and I did for the class in response to Julianna Damer's video post. Check it out!!

Julianna's original post:

Our response post:

Folksonomy and tagging!

What is 'folksonomy'?? According to Wikipedia, folksonomy is:

 

Ultimately, folksonomy is just part of a larger idea: tagging. The internet is an information overload. You can find information on absolutely anything! Ex:

How to take the door off of a '92 Honda?

What is ALES 204?

What do The Beatles songs really mean?

Why do chickens crow?

Who designed the lastest Versace pattern?

Etc, etc, etc....

But how do you find the information you want in such a large pool of knowledge? How do you find the right picture for your portfolio? TAGGING.

Tagging allows for things to be categorized and organized so that it can be found easier. It makes the internet simpler. The more specific the tag the better. According to our lecture, tagging is dynamic, offers serendipity, reflects changing ideas and changes communication. This method of sorting makes it easier for the user to find/use the information. Tagging is a very important asset to the use of internet.

Resumé 2.0: The Social Media Version

Generation Y has grown up in a time of great changes in the industry of technology. Most people are connected 24/7 these days. Their cellphone in their pocket while walking around the house, by their bed while they sleep and even with you when you are in the privacy of your own bathroom. This shows how society is constantly changing which means the job application process is different now as well. Online tools are becoming more and more relevant in this day and age. There are websites such as LinkedIn, Empire Avenue and even Twitter that can be used as a means to promote yourself as a business professional. This is why I was very pleased when our ALES 204 assignment was to make a Facebook Page as business professionals.

There is great potential in having a Facebook Page for your professional self. This is a great spot for possible future bosses to learn about your skills, work experience and interests without them having to see all of your personal information. I had a great time putting together some information about myself that I thought would be important for employers to know about myself.

Below are photos from my Facebook Page. You can click the first picture to go visit the page if you would like! 

The other pages that I chose to include as my interest on my page were Young & Free Alberta and 104.9 Virgin Radio because those are both institutions I used to work at. I also included The University of Alberta and the Human Ecology Program as they are where I am receiving my education. I also added my favorite Public Relations group because this is the field in which I wish to pursue a career. And for fun I included the page of a musician friend of mine, Justin Blais.  

I also found it interesting reading the other blogs from students in the class about their experience creating their page. I especially enjoyed Jasmeena Gill's blog because she posted a link to an article that discusses how to use Facebook professionally. 

I hope you enjoy my page!