Reflective Summary
This module has been great in getting me to do new and different things on the web, so this week, for my final post, I've decided to create a web page from scratch as it's not something that I've done before.
Before I discuss what I’ve learnt from the module, I’d just like to talk about where I was back in October at the beginning of it. Looking back at my self-test document now, it’s interesting to see that the main thing that I wanted to learn from the module was how to successfully market myself to future employers as I felt that the module seemed like it would give me a range of transitional skills that I could apply to my “real life” outside of university studies. My level of “digital literacy” varied from having little experience in participating in online communities, for example, to feeling like I was “very experienced” in managing my online privacy and security. It was clear from the start that the module would focus on managing an online identity and this was something that I didn’t feel very confident in 14 weeks ago.
I’ve always been very involved in social media, you name it, I probably have an account with it! Before I started Living and Working on the Web, my accounts were not in sync at all and if you were to compare them all side by side it would have been quite difficult to tell that they were all managed by the same person. My tweets consisted of my daily observations and didn’t necessarily give much away about myself. I really hadn’t made the most of LinkedIn as I felt awkward sending connection requests to people that I didn’t feel like I had worked with long enough or interacted with that much when I worked with them, so I treated it like I would Facebook, only “connecting” with people that I felt I really knew well.
My attitude towards Facebook hasn't really changed. My page is still really quite private but I have left a few details open just so my online identity on Facebook ties in nicely with the ones of my other social networks.
My attitude to Twitter has changed completely. I've loved being able to follow the #UOSM2033 conversations and easily get responses to any problems I’ve had, as well as read interesting articles other students have shared with us. I also find myself instantly clicking the “share to Twitter” buttons on web articles and have made sure to follow the Twitter accounts of marketing magazines so that I’m always up-to-date with the latest goings on.
I’d like to think that thanks to this module my presence on LinkedIn looks a lot more professional! I’ve made sure that I keep up my page with relevant work experience and am always looking through the “people you may know” page to ensure I stay connected with old friends and colleagues.
about.me/sophie.collins
@sophieis
From the beginning...
My Social Media Accounts
What have I learnt?
Contact
I can honestly say I feel like I’ve learnt a lot from this module. I’ve now got a much more harmonised and professional online identity across various social networks and I’ve even put my about.me URL at the top of my CV which I think is a great way for employers to see a bit more about me and my personality which doesn’t necessarily get across on a sheet of A4 paper!
I put up a vlog of myself for the final topic which was something I would NEVER have done before, and it was actually quite well-received! I've really enjoyed the interaction with other students and feel like I've learnt a lot from them, it's been really refreshing to see others' takes on an issue. I’ve used a range of online tools such as Prezi and Wix.com (which is what this page is hosted on) and I know I’ll be using them a lot more in the future now I feel confident using them. I’ve decided to do a masters in something related to marketing and business this year and this module has definitely convinced me to ensure the course I choose has a digital aspect to it.