Every newspaper or magazine nowadays devotes some space to social media. My explanation for this is very simple–it’s as if you invite some people for a social gathering to take place in your house; among the dozen or so guests, there will be those who are knowledgeable about certain subjects, and others, less so. That doesn’t mean that those who aren’t very knowledgeable will not contribute to the conversation. They will, but their content will be less factual or less valuable to the listeners.
Social media sites can be like a dinner party, where everyone chats and exchanges information. The most popular sites are Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn (which is oriented more toward business contacts). Some of the written material is thorough, researched, meaningful, and, at times, useful. Other information simply amounts to chitchat that has no value except perhaps to a very few. The advantage of social media is that if you don’t like what you read, you can just move on to read something else. Conversely, when you’re faced with a similar situation in real time it would be rude to tell the speaker you’re bored and move on.
If you’re in transition and looking for your next job, you’ll have to interact or network with people extensively. Not everything you hear people say will be valuable to you, but some of it will. Similarly, you have to be selective about your sources of reading material and their contents. It’s easy to be swept into meaningless and verbose articles that offer nothing. On the other hand, once you learn to be selective and focus on substantive reading material, you’ll realize other people can provide you with the information you need.
Twitter, as an example, is limited to 140 characters. Some tweets are obvious wastes of time. The fact that John finished eating his muffin is irrelevant to most readers. But if someone draws your attention to a newly written article about a subject you’re trying to learn more about, that article could prove to be very valuable. Learn to distinguish between spam and value on social media and follow the material that will help you move on, so that your times is not wasted.
Alex Freund, the “landing expert,” supports job seekers into employment. Alex is an effective and successful career and interviewing coach. He is known for making people feel comfortable when interviewing. Feedback and/or questions can be directed to [email protected].
By Alex Freund
