I am in the Corporate Communications and Public Relations postgraduate program at Centennial College. Our teachers are actual PR practitioners, meaning what they say really sticks.
We keep learning about the importance of social networks and that being active in them is vital to break into the industry.
Most people in the class are on Facebook, some are on LinkedIn and some are already members of the blogging world. All of these Internet networks, we are told, have the ability to make or break us (as an extreme) in the industry. We are told to join all of these networks and be involved with them, but at the same time, we are told of people’s ability and ease to search us online through them.
Does this not take away from first impressions of, say, an interview? So much is based on that first impression. With some organizations looking up information about their applicants beforehand, this already forms their opinion of them. The standard first impression is not even applicable anymore. What is a first impression now?
Because we are going into the communications industry, I understand the importance of the Internet and interactive networks. The thing is, I do not understand this loss of personal privacy. Facebook, something I joined to keep in touch with friends while abroad, I am being told can now take away potential job offers. The personal privacy that should be available on these networks, I see, to be of vital importance. It is one of the few ways we are now able to achieve work/life balance.
Because of this openness, I was hesitant to write this first entry and kept putting it off. I guess, though, that the acceptance of the research and openness of using online networking really is part of accepting the fast-paced and Internet-based ways of our society.
