How Social Media Has Made Me A Smarter Person

When I’m not keeping myself busy with the other important things in life – job hunting, eating, exercising, volunteering, sleeping, job hunting, and job hunting – I’m usually on the computer. With so many different social network accounts and no cable television in my apartment, it’s the best way to spend my free time. With social media, I build my personal brand through this blog and my social networks, all while getting smarter!

I stumbled into the blog Hightalk by George Snell. His post 4 Great Things About Social Media explains the exact reasons why I’m spending so much time in front of my computer!

Other than building my personal network, staying in the loop, and connecting with my friends and family, I learn so much more every day by engaging in social media. Whether it’s reading and commenting on blogs, Tweeting, or Facebooking, I’m always gaining knowledge about the things that interest me. It keeps me curious, which I feel is one of the strongest personal qualities recent grads can have.

Snell’s post claims that one of the best things about social media is that it introduces new ideas. Opinionated blog posts are on the World Wide Web for everyone to see- and challenge. I love to read comments on blogs because my mind expands so much from reading other people’s different and intelligent perspectives. I can even learn a thing or two – and get a good laugh – from Perez Hilton’s blog, which I’ll admit I’ve checked out a few times lately due to the Miss California USA fiasco.

After reading Snell’s post and reflecting on the Miss California/Perez Hilton/gay marriage circus, I feel that although social media has made me a smarter, more open-minded person, it has not made me a more daring person. (“Daring” in a sense that I’m going to post my deepest personal and political opinions).

Although many people use blogs to write (or rant) about their deep opinions on things (e.g. Perez Hilton),  I prefer to use my blog as a professional platform and refrence for my peers and potential employers. I offer my thoughts on PR-related issues, my resume and links to my e-portfolio and social networks.  I am an opinionated person, but especially in a personal-branding stage of my life, I feel that some of my opinions should be left out of the blogosphere.

However, for future posts, I will challenge myself to write about more PR-related debates and issues. After all, the opinion factor of blogs is what separates them from hard news stories. Plus, I think this move will make my blog “smarter.”

And that is why social media, and a little bit of Perez Hilton, has made me a smarter person.