Saturday, March 5, 2016

Communicating Through the Shadow of Social Media

For this week's blog post, I decided to re-create my previous presentation in a more digital form, using Prezi. I was not familiar with Prezi, but this project is all about changing the way we communicate, so I decided to branch out. You can find my presentatiion by clicking on the image below. I'm still trying to nail down and adjust exactly what I want to say, so any and all feedback will be much appreciated!
http://prezi.com/qwugapsrgto1/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

I realized that my original presentation didn't include much of a personal aspect; however, I'm learning that Prezi isn't the best way to present copious amounts of text. I've decided to include a personal anecdote in this blog post as a way of getting feedback.



I currently work as an editor/ proofreader for a church-run youth summer program, and in my line of work I frequently see applications and resumes and the like. While I myself am not responsible for hiring decisions, some of my coworkers help in that process by reviewing the social media profiles of the applicants. It's been an interesting experience to see the types of things that will get candidates removed from the hiring pool. When my coworkers are evaluating the online presence of the applicants, they look at they way these individuals present themselves, and ask if they want that person to represent the program. Something as simple as swearing in a tweet, or re-blogging an inappropriate joke on tumblr, or posting a questionable picture on facebook can completely destroy the applicant's chances of being hired--and why? Because we know that individuals can represent a whole group, and we don't want to take down the credibility of the organization. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, we don't want the youth participating in the program to find their summer-camp leaders on social media and see a bad example. As unfair as it may seem, we have to define the character of the applicants based on their digital footprint.

6 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed your presentation! I also know people whose job is to go through Facebook profiles and make sure that their candidate hire has a presentable profile. While I do not think that it's unfair, I do think it's a little weird to go "snooping" around someone's profile. Maybe I'm just not used to the fact that an organization would do that. Or maybe there's a deeper ethical issue at hand: does it matter how I live my personal life if I give my 100% in my professional life?

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  2. Could you revise your post and embed the Prezi presentation rather than just link to it? Or take a screenshot and link to the Prezi from a pic of it? See if you can figure out how to do that. The Prezi is great at getting at your point in a better way than before, and your anecdote here in the blog is a perfect example of the need to be good custodians of our personal identities online.

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  3. It took a few google searches, but I think I've successfully used the image as the link! Thanks--I didn't even realize that that was something I could do!

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  4. Thanks for doing that. Your point about Prezi's limits is a good one, and you are compensating for that with your personal anecdote here in your blog post. A Prezi can be a very efficient way, though, to deliver content maybe less digestible via a blog post.

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  5. This was a great presentation! I think I may redo mine in a prezi format now:) I liked your personal angle included in the blog post and your use of current facts/statistics. Both helped to make the presentation more relatable. You definitely implied the issue of putting up fake selves on social media, but some elaboration may help.

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  6. Adrian, thanks for your comment! I think I may try to answer your question in my next post--it definitely helps me better nail down what I need to say.

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