My Personal Learning Network

This semester I am taking a Social Media class and for that class I will be working on a Personal Learning Network (PLN). With 1 semester left as a student my professional life is barreling down upon me whether I like it or not and I know I need to work on my personal brand and marketing myself in order to get a job.

When we received the assignment I immediately thought this would be a perfect time to work on my demo reel and online professional presence while also providing a great opportunity to learn more about some social media that I hadn’t used before. Then I thought, “what do employers look for?” “How do I create and distribute that?” and finally, “where do I start?”

I started with Twitter, soon thereafter followed by handy dandy Pinterest and last but not least I found some professional blogs to follow.

Using Twitter I made a list of the professionals that I wanted to follow so that I could have a timeline specifically dedicated to my PLN.

I follow 10 that have posted specifically helpful things that will help me development my online presence. I liked these Twitter accounts because they not only posted helpful tips and news but they also provided me with good examples for what is appropriate to post on social media and a they were a good rule of thumb for me to follow. Keith Yaskin and Paul Butler are 2 two of my favorites.

Keith Yaskin works for The Flip Side Communications and he finds a good balance on his Twitter between professional tweets, advice and appropriate personal tweets.

Paul Butler is a TV professional who posts advice and news stories that are helpful from a Christian perspective

Next I went to my Pinterest to hunt down some interesting boards that would provide me with valuable information. I now follow around 7 Pin Boards dealing with editing and social media, specifically helping me with creating my digital footprint and personal brand. Here is one created by entrepreneur.com that posts articles and info-graphs about social media and networking.

I follow a pin board made by entrepreneur.com called Social Media Tips and it really has a lot to offer.

Lastly, I hit up some blogs. Using the RSS feed application Feedreader and WordPress I followed 10 blog RSS feeds including information on editing and presenting yourself appropriately for jobs. I really like Clay Asbury’s posts on The Beat blog about editing and post production.

Clay Asbury posts useful content on editing and efficiently utilizing resources for The Beat

For the next few weeks, as I work on creating my deliverables, I am going to keep an eye on all these resources and use them to help me, not only on this project, but in the future for other work that I will have to do. I can’t wait to see how it turns out! If you want to follow my PLN journey  you can follow my other blog that I will be using to post highlights and information I learn periodically throughout the semester!