Penny Kim

Social Media Saves Lives

I’ve recently experienced first hand the power of social media in my personal life. As a professional in the industry, I’m familiar with its relevance and significance for people and companies everywhere, everyday. I just never thought it would be the most crucial and pivotal instrument for my career path right now.

I’m just another victim of today’s economy and was laid off from my employer Friday February the 13^th. A dozen others or so from my previous company were given the ax the same time as well.  I’ve been laid off before a couple of years ago but it was even different back then. The only sources for my job search were Craigslist, Monster, Careerbuilder and recruiters. Twitter didn’t exist and LinkedIn was unknown to most of society. Here and now, those two social networks are the channels that have saved my ass.

The first thing I did when I was let go was to DM all my followers on Twitter in search of job opportunities.  I was pleasantly surprised at how many responded back with condolences and leads. After all, 60% of those I follow I only know by pseudo-name and of whom I’ve never met in person. I felt overwhelmed that these strangers were willing to lend a hand; in the offline world it would have been different.

LinkedIn is truly a sophisticated and professional network. In contrast to Twitter, I received several emails and opportunities from companies and executives who were looking for me. They say LinkedIn is the current leading tool for recruiters to find employees, and I feel grateful that there are colleagues and companies out there reaching out to me.

I’m very thankful of the people I’m associated with both virtually and physically who appreciate the presence and power of social media. There’s no doubt that this growing digital trend is essential to career development and networking for professionals in today’s modern society. There’s plenty of opportunities and despite the economic downturn, there’s no other industry I’d rather be a part in. I hope to land a big gig soon.

Social Media Consumer Personalities

The following is an exerpt from a recent Ad Age article on several social media demographics which can be found in full here.

Simmons Research, an Experian company, has chronicled the predilections of consumers in its National Consumer Study since 1960, and recently added social media to its survey. That includes social-networking sites, blogs, message boards, podcasts and e-mail. Simmons agreed to slice and dice its volumes of data for Advertising Age to identify social-media consumer profiles. The first five are from its bank of 38 consumer personalities; the others are pulled from demographic data.

SOCIALLY ISOLATED

These people are generally unhappy with their lives and feel alone. Not surprisingly, they fall at average or below average for e-mailing. But that doesn’t mean they eschew social media. In fact, they’re 12% more likely than the average person to use blogs, message boards or social-networking sites. They also post comments on blogs at least twice a month; personal, music, consumer-product and video-game blogs are most visited. 

APPROVAL SEEKERS

This group buys what others are buying and likes to follow styles and trends. They use social-networking sites to meet like-minded people, express their views, get music and entertainment recommendations, and keep in touch with family and friends. They rate average in e-mailing friends and co-workers but above average in using e-mail to communicate with their parents. They are 23% more likely to instant message and download music. 

HEALTH AND IMAGE LEADERS

This is eager to try health and wellness products, experiment with diets, and spend to look younger. The majority are under 50. They prefer reading blogs over posting comments or creating their own blogs and prefer to read about TV shows, video games, music and art/literature. They also like social-networking sites: More than one-fifth visit them more than twice a month. 

SMART GREEN

Clearly they prefer to buy products in recycled packages and eschew products that pollute. They are average users of social networking, blogging and podcasting but slightly above average in message boards. They are older (50-plus) and are most likely to go online for health or financial information. And in the spirit of their eco-friendly attitude toward trees, they’re 23% more likely to send electronic greeting cards. 

BRAND-LOYAL

This group shies away from buying unknown brands just for a bargain and prefers to buy brand-name goods. They’re very average social-media users, but some subjects of interest drive them to social media more than the average person: They’re 21% more likely to read environmental blogs and 22% more likely to use professional-networking sites to make new contacts. 

STAY-AT-HOME MOMS

They’re 25 to 49 and have at least one child living at home. They use social media for a variety of reasons, including staying in touch and parental guidance. They visit parenting blogs five times more often than average. They’re also active on social networks, blogs and chat forums but tend to stay away from podcasting. They visit blogs once or more a week and create their own blogs at a higher than average rate. 

UPSCALE GRAYS

These 50-plus consumers with college degrees and household incomes of more than $100,000 are low-level social-media users. They are almost 40% less likely than the average person to have read blogs, visited chat forums or instant messaged and 70% less likely to have visited a social network in the past month. One of the only places they skewed higher than average were professional networking sites. 

FIRST-TIME HOME BUYERS

It makes sense that people in the market for a home would look online for information about not only real estate but other products involved in home ownership. But Experian found that this under-35 set also includes very active social networkers, bloggers and message-board users. They also rank high in texting, podcasting and business networking. They use social networks to keep in touch but also to find information. 

DIVORCED

Unsurprisingly, both sexes index high for dating sites, but women are more likely to visit social networks than men. Divorced women are also 20% more likely to buy something online, while men are 52% more likely to visit sports sites. Neither is into blogs or chat forums, but women communicate more than average via text message, while men use e-mail 45% more than average to communicate with their children.