How not to use social media
As the new academic year comes hurtling into view I’ve been asked to prepare a few seminars based on how undergraduates might use social media to present themselves professionally. The immediacy and global reach of social media tools, twitter in particular, are among the reasons for doing this. I am keen for the students to reflect on what tools are available to them and how they might use them in a professional manner.
Whilst preparing the session I was reminded of an example of what can happen to a brand when the conventions of a site are not followed as the users expect. Habitat UK decided to use hashtags to piggy back on topics that were trending on twitter and therefore spam the trend to try to get maximum exposure. This massively backfired for the company and caused a lot of bad press. See the link below for examples and the full story.
The old adage “no news is bad news” can still apply in this case as it did mean that the Habitat brand got exposure. I would not recommend this type of behaviour for undergraduate students trying to move into the employment market. Employers are looking for responsible employees who can present themselves in both the digital and face-to-face environments appropriately.
why social? 