#UOSM2008 Digital Portfolio – Summary
Before UOSM2008 I was already using social media. However, as it turned out, this use had little or no benefit to my future career. Iāve never blogged, had only ~10 tweets, my Facebook profile was for social life only and the LinkedIn was far from perfect. Below are given the online changes of my attitude and presentation divided into main topics.
Twitter (https://twitter.com/Eldar994)
During the module time, Iāve realized the true power of Twitter and started to target three categories of twitter accounts (Fig.1):
- The module classmates/lecturers, for communication.
- The companies I support and keep up-to-date with, and more specifically, CEOs of the companies, e.g. Microsoft, Apple, Intel, IBM, etc.
- Job recruitment agencies, e.g. GraduateJobFeed.co.uk, ProspectsJobs, TargetJobs, etc.
Figure.1
Iāve published ~170 module related tweets (~1-2/day). Now I use the Twitter to share my posts and my LinkedIn updates. My about.me page is connected to Tweeter as well (Fig.2).
Figure.2
LinkedIn (uk.linkedin.com/pub/eldar-alasgarov/67/621/636/)
My LinkedIn profile had most changes as my online appearance. Firstly, Iāve customizing my Profile: changed the picture, added my Twitter and Blog for communication (Fig.3).
Figure.3
Previously, I was targeting my friends. However, thanks to UOSM2008 Iāve started to target management structures of the companies Iām interested in and/or Iāve applied for. In three months Iāve connected to more than 370 people, mostly IT professionals, Recruiters, and HRs of the world leading companies, e.g. IBM, Deloitte, Facebook, Siemens, etc. (Fig.4)
Figure.4
Iāve joined groups, both job search and IT related, in order to be up-to-date (Fig.5), and encouraged my friends to write recommendations (Fig.6).
Figure.5
Figure.6
After the upgrades, just in one week my profile was viewed by 50 people and Iāve shown up 32 times in search results in past 90 days (Fig.7).
Figure.7
Blogger
During blogging topics were discussed with the classmates via sharing and commenting on in each otherās posts. Iāve seen different styles of writing and presenting, different approaches and opinions on each topic. Based on classmatesā feedbacks, we were able to adjust and reconsider our opinion in the topicsā summary.
Figure.8
Both with posts and comments, Iāve written 11,041 words. For a non-native speaker, this is nothing but a good practice.
About.me (http://about.me/eldar.alasgarov/)
Iāve never used About.me and was quite surprised with the power and simplicity of it. It gathers all social networks known nowadays into one single page, which you can customize and add a summary. Previously, when exchanging contacts, Iād have to give separately the email/Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn profiles. However, now I pass to people my About.me page which contains all information about me online. After improvements suggested by the classmates, Kim Fenton and Francesca Gerard (Fig.9), Iāve started to get hundreds of views on my profile every week! (Fig.10)
Figure.9
Figure.10
Topics
What about the topics covered in the module? Were they useful? Definitely, Yes! And here is a small list of the lessons learned (Fig.11):
- Categorization of people into āDigital Residentsā and āVisitorsā isnāt perfect. There are people who donāt fall under these categories.
- The amount of online identities you have doesnāt matter, what matters is how you manage them.
- Tips to build/improve your online identity.
- We are responsible for the actions performed online as much as in real live.
- People do have right to āOpen Accessā.
Figure.11
Future plans
As currently I havenāt decided on the market I want to focus on, UK or Azerbaijan, Iām currently targeting both and trying to expand my network as much as possible. Once decided, I will use all social media available to be in advantage against other applicants even before we meet our potential employer.
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