Thursday, February 2, 2017

Week 2A: Social Media

I must admit that I am not really social media savvy and I don't own a smartphone, but I've been using personal computers since I worked for TRW in the early 80s. Back then they put IBM computers in all the offices and there was no internet. 

Besides email and IMs on AOL, my first experience with social media was Myspace, which my daughter set up for me, and I rarely used. I am currently on Facebook which I only use for personal use. And I have a LinkedIn account which again I don't use since I am currently not working.

So, which social media platforms are geared towards personal use? I would say Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter. Facebook kind of reminds me of a realtime family "newsletter". People post personal events and/or information about themselves and you can comment about them.  Now, I am not familiar with Snapchat or Instagram, but my daugthers are and they use it mostly to send pictures to family and friends. Twitter, well I have never used it nor have my daughters but I see it more for personal use since you are confined to only 140 characters. Now we are aware of some "professional" people using it to "promote" themselves and their views.

As for business use, I only know of LinkedIn, which companies use to promote their businesses and/or look for qualified employees and Facebook which allows for businesses to not only show their professional side but also their personal side as well.