My Social Media Journey

Yesterday, fellow PR student Janet Aronica posted about what she has learned from being involved in social media thus far.

Her post got me thinking about my own social media journey and what I've learned along the way.

Much like Janet, my journey began with Facebook. Entering college, Facebook was a must-have for social reasons. Little did I know that 3 years later, Facebook could serve such different purposes. I immediately signed up and added every person I knew from high school. I enjoyed posting photos and viewing photos. I loved checking out my friends profiles and writing on their walls.

Sophomore year of college began, and I heard about blogging. I had, of course, visited blogs, but never thought about creating one of my own. I religiously read gossip blogs like Perez Hilton and TMZ.

A guest speaker came to talk to Temple's PRSSA chapter and mentioned Twitter. I came home and signed up. I totally didn't understand it, and let my profile sit untouched for months.

In January 2008, when PRowl Public Relations officially opened for business, this blog was born. I slowly learned more and more about blogging. I began to read other well-known PR blogs. I introduced blogging to the other members of the board of directors, and we all began to learn more about social media.

In the beginning of the summer, I heard about LinkedIn. I thought it was awesome that I could put my entire resume on the Internet, and connect with potential employers.

In July 2008, I re-activated my Twitter. I still didn't quite understand, but utilized a search tool to find other PR students and professionals. Slowly, I began to gain followers, and learned to engage in conversation. Later in the summer, I even created a Twitter site for PRowl PR.

In the beginning of September, I learned about the magical-ness of RSS feeds and Google Reader. Google Reader helped me to organize the blogs that I read, and made it easy for me to see when each blog updated. I learned the importance of linking to and commenting on other blogs in order to build relationships.

Now, in February 2009, Twitter has helped me in more ways than I could ever imagine. Through my connections on Twitter I've found great new blogs, guest posted on other blogs, found a mentor, and landed an internship! Blogging has become a bit of an addiction for me, and my Google Reader is always full.

I've made mistakes along the way, and I'm certainly still learning, but I've enjoyed the progression of my social media journey. I can't wait to see what comes next!