I have always been late to the social media party. My first encounter with social media was AOL Instant Messenger, which my mother forbid me to use until I was in eighth grade and only after I claimed it was necessary in order to get updates on my field hockey schedule.
During freshman year of high school my friends kept telling me they couldn’t tag me in photos, which was “so lame.” So finally, I got on Facebook. I upgraded from tagging pictures to full on stalking the girls I didn’t like and the guys I did. Then senior year, Twitter happened. At first I only followed my friends so we could tweet about our teachers and classmates during school.
When I got to Syracuse University I kept up with my friends from home on Facebook and used Twitter as a procrastination tool. It wasn’t until this past summer that I got back to tweeting. But this time I wouldn’t tweet about my Starbucks coffee drinks. Instead I tried to tweet current news about health and journalism.
After accepting my position as a digital intern with fitbie.msn.com I knew I needed to get more comfortable with writing in 140 characters. That’s when I enrolled in the social media course offered at Newhouse. I’ve learned so much more than I thought there was to know and look forward to exploring the endless world of social media.
The course has made me more comfortable with social media tools and taught me how to contribute to the conversations online. I know these skills will improve my professional résumé. I do believe the publishing industry will rely on social media to broaden their readership and therefore I will always try to keep up with the fast-paced changes in the social media world.
(image credit: www.socialpeel.com)
Over 140 Characters 