The
Marquette Journal

Feeling Twitterpated: How college students can utilize social media networks

On Twitter, you can watch a news story break, connect with professionals in your career field or talk about what’s going on in your life. You’re given 140 characters per Tweet (update) to express what’s most important to you at that moment.

While posting Facebook-style status updates is popular on Twitter, 140 characters can be used in ways that strategically benefit the user. Lauren Rabaino, a sophomore at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and intern for the Center for Innovation in College Media, said students need to get started as soon as possible to make connections.

“There is a niche for every type of person on Twitter, and that means endless opportunities to connect,” Rabaino said.

There are no rules except basic netiquette, mimicking social media networks like Facebook and MySpace. Use discretion, and keep in mind who will be following you, said Steve Glynn of the Milwaukee-based creative agency, Spreenkler LLC. Drunken late-night Tweets and excessive use of curse words may deter prospective followers or contacts.

Glynn said messages should be relevant to the desired audience, and students should follow and interact with companies they might want to work with in the future.

“Talk about your skills and how they apply to the business the company is in because that’s what they’re going to want to hear,” he said.

Spencer March, co-founder of the College Blog Network, said building informal professional relationships in a student’s career field is one of the best ways to utilize Twitter.

But it’s important to keep a personal side to your Tweets, Glynn said. Look for the right time to send a reply, and it can be easy and useful to network informally while keeping your individuality. Talking about classes you’re taking, projects you’re working on and research you’re doing is a good way to maintain a personal yet professional brand on Twitter.

Rabaino said it’s important to build up your brand and to create your own identity online. This leads to ease of transferring a positive, employable image into the working world when the time comes.

“When employers or recruiters Google a student’s name, they should get the gist of what that student is all about,” she said. “The more active students are on social media, the higher they’ll rank on those search results.”

Using Twitter to your advantage can help with schoolwork, too. According to Glynn, the Twitter community is very helpful and actively responsive to personal inquiries. Students can find almost any company on Twitter, ask for an opinion or information for research purposes, and responses will pour in almost immediately.

While correspondence with professionals may help with research, Rabaino emphasized that this is still a way of building contacts.

“The more connections you make, the more you’ll know about your industry. The more you know about your industry, the more you can innovate,” Rabaino said. “And it’s the innovators who get jobs.”

Ben Leis, CEO of The Campus Buzz, recommended that students find professionals in their field using Twitter and ask for advice.

“Use Twitter to find people that share common interests or for people that can help you with something specific, and ask them for their input and help,” he said.

According to Leis, the 140-character limit for each Tweet forces people to find the most efficient way to communicate. Whether it is to promote a résumé, to demonstrate work or anything else, a strong presence in this social medium can help you network and build a positive image for yourself.

“Twitter is the single most powerful text-based medium in existence,” Rabaino said. “It’s ironic because it’s so painstakingly simple.”

It can be used for anything, she said. Twitter can play the role of a news aggregator, a news breaker, a chat room, an RSS feed — it can be a social and a professional network at the same time.

“We, as students, young minds, Gen Y, innovators, whatever we want to call ourselves — we are writing the rules,” Rabaino said. “We are defining the way to use these social networks to innovate.

“Everyone should hop on. Dive in. Join the conversation. Make connections. Get your name out there and make sure people know who you are and why you’re important,” she said.

For help getting started on Twitter, click here to find some useful tips, “Twittiquette,” definitions and a list of recommended users to follow. (You can follow us —­­ just add @MUjournal.) Also check out Becky Simo’s Total BS column, Wait, let me Tweet that.