Professionalism and Social Media: Opportunity for Building Connections or Dredging Buried Secrets

#MHST601 Performing a quick Google search will tell the chronological tale of social media site birth and history. Shockingly (to me anyway) there was a site, GENie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) created in 1985 as an online service for General Electric. It actually looks very user-friendly, although likely quite intimidating for many at the time.

10 years later, in 1995, Microsoft released Windows 95 and life as we knew it would change forever. Since then there have been many social media platforms and blogging sites: LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok to name several. It is often said that once information is on the Internet it is there forever. Imagine if you began your online presence back in 1995 and have had numerous online accounts since then, some of which you thought were deleted without a trace only to discover later at a very inopportune time were not, and your old skeletons come back to haunt you. What would you do?

Most of us have some experiences in our past that we would like to remain buried. That is becoming increasingly difficult with today's technology and changing culture of sharing so many aspects of our personal lives online for all (or only friends and friends of friends) to see. Luckily for my generation, only secrets from around 2006 and on can be dredged up. I say lucky because by 2006 I was already employed and married. I watched the You Tube link (posted in Unit 1) of the video showing the young man just out of med school going for an interview and actually felt anxiety for him when the interviewer asked what would be found with an internet or social media search. You never know when words or behaviors may be perceived by others as inappropriate, unprofessional, or politically incorrect. Is it possible to always be on our best behavior? And if not, how do we keep our shenanigans from the world wide web?

In recent years social media has been used as a powerful tool to promote oneself, business, interests, opinions, etc. through the click of a mouse or touch of a screen. The ease of use allows for people of all ages to access and participate sites of their choice. I originally joined social media to connect with friend and family, to share my life and to learn about what has been happening in their lives. Thus far I have maintained a personal presence on social media, but as I reflect on the professional/social media audit completed in Unit 1, I realize I would like a professional presence as well. Working on this e-portfolio has allowed me to focus on how I would like to present myself as a professional to an online audience.

As a professional I aim to be perceived as competent, intelligent, fair, honest, approachable, hardworking, and successful. I want my identity to be a good human being that is passionate about helping other human beings, and is successful inspiring others to do the same. I believe this aligns with the College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta's (CARNA) mandate to, "ensure ethical, safe, competent care" by all Registered Nurses (2021). As a professional I value transparency, respect, integrity, honesty, commitment, collaboration, equality to name a few, which align with Canadian Nurses Association's (CNA) Code of Ethics, "nurses are accountable for these ethical responsibilities in their professional relationships with individuals, families, groups, populations, communities, and colleagues (2008). These values promote trust and build relationships, which are essential to effective team work. The task and goal is now to create an online space that will highlight these attributes in a positive professional manner. This work is in progress, stay tuned!

In closing, social media can be an effective tool for professionals as a platform that can build many connections in a very short period of time. The old term, "pound the pavement" may need to be replaced as we can now do the work anywhere there is access to a device and the internet. Online representation can be perceived in many different ways so one must be cautious and mindful about what information to share and how it could be perceived because you never know when that next big opportunity could be waiting.

References

CARNA - College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta. Azure Prod. (2021). Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://nurses.ab.ca/.

Canadian Nurses Association. (2008). Code of ethics for registered nurses - CNA – AIIC. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.cna-aiic.ca/-/media/cna/page-content/pdf-en/code_of_ethics_2008_e.pdf?