A Canvas for Reinvention

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people ‘sign in’ to their personal homepages, and if they’re as addicted to social media as I am, some ‘sign in’ several times a day. I think the lure behind a personal webpage- whether it’s a Twitter or Facebook page, blog, personal website, or even an E-Harmony profile-is that on that particular page, you market yourself to the world as you want them to see you.

While some sites, such as LinkedIn, provide users with a way to make business connections, others, such as Facebook, offer users a way to express their personal lives. However, as the online world becomes more pervasive, and as life after college gets nearer, there comes a time when we need to ‘clean up’ our personal webpages. Luckily, the advantage of personal webpages, blogs, and social networking sites is that as the author of the content, you are in total control.

Take for instance the all-important Facebook page. In the years since its founding, Facebook has taken itself from a popular social networking site, and shoved itself into the daily lives of many young people. Now, your Facebook is a total representation of yourself. It shows who you are, who your friends are, your interests, your high score on Farmville, what you’re doing and where you’re doing it. With a webpage that includes almost every facet of your personal life, it’s almost impossible to avoid, and even harder to create, especially when trying to present yourself as a business professional.

With this new ability to discuss everything about yourself to the world, it’s hard to decide just what side of yourself you’re going to choose to show. Luckily, there are several websites that can help you find direction. This article found on the Business to Community website offers 10 ways to make your Facebook page a more effective way of presenting yourself to the world.
With these tips, you can turn your Facebook page from an archive of fun and friendships to a place where potential employers can see an energetic, yet professional, personal webpage-and in an online world that is constantly becoming more invasive, I think that is what everyone is looking for.

Kayla Sullivan

The Significance Of Groundswell

By: Mark Shaffer

COM 340

Because of the progression in social media and the increasing participation of Internet users, there has been a development in the phenomenon referred to as Groundswell that has greatly changed the rules for online marketing. Groundswell is characterized as a "social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other instead of from companies, brands or traditional institutions like corporations." This act of socializing dictates the way institutions and corporations communicate to consumers because with the access to so many social media outlets, people are able to manipulate the traditional marketing strategies that used to once capture online user’s attention.

For some companies this may be seen as a down side to online marketing, however if used correctly or strategically, companies may use this trend to their advantage by communicating to new customers and fueling them to promote the company through social media outlets. This idea goes hand and hand for both small businesses and large corporations. In today’s society, people are much more familiar with technology online and use it to research and find trusted sources, therefore if a company does use the idea of groundswell to their advantage, getting customer feedback and consumer participation builds a trustworthy relationship with online user, thus building more potential consumer relationships.

The whole idea behind groundswell is the necessity for people to connect with one another. People-to-people communication through social media has become the number one online activity. Research from the Forrester’s North American Social Technographics Online Survey, suggest that online users feed off one another through surveys and consumer feedback to retrieve information and services more than any other form of online marketing. This trend that is setting the new standard for online marketing and people-to-people activity is making it essential for businesses to become familiar with the idea of groundswell and to use it in fueling public relations.