Presentation to Winchester College Studium, October 2013

1. Online identity and employability
Lisa Harris
University of Southampton
16th October 2013

2. About me…
• 10 years in banking industry and MBA @ Oxford Brookes
makes me a “pracademic”
• PhD @ Brunel, investigating case studies of technological
change in banking industry
• Teaching @ Brunel and Director of MBA programme
• Teaching @ Soton and course leader of MSc Digital
Marketing
• Qualified tutor University of Liverpool e-MBA
• Student Digital Champions
• Associate Director of CITE and Digital Economy Research
Group

3. The Plan
• Disruptive innovation
• The role of social media
• Introduction to digital literacy
– Online safety
– Building your professional profile
• Southampton projects
– Curriculum Innovation
– Student Digital Champions
– MOOCs

4. “No more disruptive innovation, please”

5. What technologies are being discussed here?
• “The modern world overwhelms people with data and this is
confusing and harmful to the mind” (Conrad Gessner, 1565)
• “It will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because
they will not use their memories.“ (Socrates, 469-399BC)
• “It socially isolates readers and detracts from the spiritually
uplifting group practice of getting news from the pulpit”
(Malesherbes, 1787)
• “It
might hurt radio, conversation, reading, and the patterns
of family living and result in the further vulgarisation of
American culture“ (Ellen Wartella, 1962)
• “It’s making us stupid” (Nicholas Carr, 2008)

6. What does Google like?
• Social media interaction with digital content is the *biggest
influence* on its search visibility:
1. Facebook shares
2. Facebook comments
3. Facebook likes
4. Tweets
http://www.socialmediastrategist.co.uk/blog/1-news/175social-media-seo
• Google “Hummingbird” for the latest update…a “new
engine” for Google

7. Content, content, content
• People sharing/liking your content has an SEO benefit
• Good content is a top reason why people follow brands
on social media
• Build social capital by giving away good stuff –
endorsements and sales will follow
• Content can educate, inform, entertain or
inspire…resulting in brand advocates
• Facebook’s “Edgerank” score increases with
engagement, decreases with negativity. This influences
how many people get to view a brand’s post in their
newsfeed

9. Blogs: pulling it all together
• Use the blog framework as a central point pulling in your other
social media content: Digital Economy Blog or to aggregate a series
of blogs as per Multidisciplinary Research
• Tweets – Flickr – LinkedIn – Vimeo - Slideshare – Pinterest Soundcloud - YouTube
• You can also embed other social media within individual blog posts
• Video is increasingly important, especially authentic user
generated content
• Provide sharing buttons
• These activities provide a regular supply of “googlejuice” to the
blog

10. Digital Literacy
• “Digital literacy is the ability to locate, organise, understand,
evaluate, and analyse information using digital technology. It
involves a working knowledge of current tools and an
understanding of how they can be used”
• “The active management of online activities such as
collaboration, networking , content creation and curation in
order to “stand out from the crowd” in today’s job market”
• “an ability to respond positively to change”
• Social media revolution 2013 (Eric Qualman, 3 mins)

11. Dare you Google yourself...?

12. Reppler
• Go to http://reppler.com and check your own social
media profiles. The tool highlights any inappropriate
content, and shows you what aspects of your
information are publically available. Then you can
connect directly to Facebook to edit your privacy
settings and adjust the visibility of your content as
necessary.
• This exercise does require you to allow Reppler access
to your social media accounts as explained in their
privacy policy
• “Every potential candidate for 2040 presidental
election is now unelectable due to Facebook” - satire

13. The devil is in your details

14. Did you know…?
Digital marketing principles can also be applied to
ourselves to attract potential employers
For example, creative videos produced by
candidates now play an important role in the job
application process
As do blogging, tweeting and participating in
relevant online communities such as LinkedIn
30 million students and recent graduates are now
on LinkedIn, its fastest-growing demographic.

15. Why should you care?
A standard CV is no longer sufficient to stand out from the crowd in a
global and rapidly evolving job market.
“We are currently preparing students for
jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies
that haven’t been invented, in order to
solve problems we don’t even know are
problems yet.”
- Karl Fisch, “Did You Know”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmwwrGV_aiE

16. So what are employers doing?
• According to a recent study by Jobvite
– 92% of recruiters use social media in the hiring process
– 80% had been positively influenced by a candidate’s
professional social network profile
– 78% had been negatively influenced towards a candidate’s
inappropriate use of social media
• The best candidates might not be actively looking for
a new job (up to 90% of the workforce)
• Social media can identify the best talent , encourage
conversation and build relationships with them
• Enables recruiters to promote their company as “a
great place to work”

18. So what should job seekers do?
• Recognise that building an online personal brand is
now a critical aspect of career development
• It boosts our reputation and gives us new skills in
communication, creativity and reflective thinking.
• The information we display on social networks
should actively encourage rather than discourage
potential employers
• Don’t “opt out” - finding NOTHING about a person
on a Google search creates a negative impression too

19. Digital Footprints: the practicalities
• It requires a long term strategy to develop a digital
“footprint” which demonstrates our skills, and build
an appropriate network of contacts.
• The successful author and speaker Chris Brogan talks
about “paying it forward” – meaning we should give
before we receive.
• For a more negative view of “digital tattoos”, see this
TED video presented by Juan Enriquez of Harvard

22. Living and Working on the Web
This module focuses on the development of online identities and networks to
enhance employability in the digital age.
Specifically, it investigates how the digital world is influencing how we:
• collect, manage and evaluate online information – ideal preparation for
dissertations
• build an effective online identity for personal or career development
• create and curate content via blogging and video production
• interact with others for networking, team-building and project management
purposes
• deal with online privacy, safety and security issues
• participate remotely in live events
Working in small groups, students engaged in real time with a ‘real’ and
‘virtual’ audience at the University Digital Literacies Conference in May 2013.
For more information check out the module webpage and video and the
students’ feedback video

23. Student Digital Champions
•
•
•
•
What do the digichamps do?
Digital Literacies Conference video
Conference Summary
Facebook Group – here we post information
about upcoming events, relevant news and
work opportunities
• Blog – reviews of completed Digichamp work

24. Student Digital Champions:
Flo Broderick
• Met at SXSC2 last October
• Took Digital Marketing and CI modules, learned
interviewing skills and video editing
• Helped out in a big way at Digital Media Europe
• Masterminded student contribution to Digital
Literacies Conference
• Provided student perspective on our research into
online learning MOOCs
• Visited Italy to carry out MOOC filming in Portus
• Now in Madrid working for Telefonica Digital

25. MOOCs
• Showcase the university’s teaching/research
/student contributions to encourage enrolments
on campus courses and inspire innovation there
• Sharing of participants’ intentions/experiences
via social media is integral to the package
• these interactions carry an authenticity that
traditional promotional materials lack.
• Mobile/tablet access to course is crucial
• #FLWebSci (promotional video, 2 mins)

27. Finding me online
https://www.vizify.com/lisa-harris
http://digitaleconomy.soton.ac.uk/people/lisaharris/
www.about.me/lisa.harris
www.twitter.com/lisaharris
www.linkedin.com/in/lisajaneharris
http://www.slideshare.net/lisaharris
http://lisaharrismarketing.com

28. Thank you!
Any questions?
Slides available at Slideshare