The Serendipity of my Summer Internship

Posted on February 21, 2018 by Juliana

This past summer, I interned with a wedding photographer near my home in Philadelphia, PA. Originally, I had pursued the internship as a way to develop my photography skills and experience the behind-the-scenes environment of the photography world. Throughout the summer, I dabbled in various aspects of the business such as attending weddings, identifying influencers in the wedding industry, and researching and analyzing optimal methods of engagement for postings on Instagram. By being exposed to such a wide variety of tasks, I learned what I enjoyed and did not enjoy about running a photography business. Surprisingly, I learned that I did not enjoy photographing weddings. The emotionally-charged and chaotic environment of a wedding increased my anxiety and made it difficult for me to enjoy the process and art of photography. I also felt uncomfortably intrusive at weddings, because although I was a stranger to the couple getting married, I was present at some of the wedding’s most intimate moments such as the bride getting ready, and posing for family photos.

While I did not improve my photography skills greatly through my internship, I discovered my passion for social media strategy. I loved learning about the intricacies of the Instagram algorithm and discovering the numerous influencers in the wedding industry. At first, I was a little overwhelmed when the owner would present me with such tasks as “ research shadow-banned hashtags” or “participate in daily comment pods”. The world of social media strategy was a mystery to me before this internship and I had no idea what a “shadow-banned hashtag” nor “comment pod” was. Through seeking guidance and several google searches, I discovered that a shadow-banned hashtag is a hashtag that prevents a post from receiving optimal engagement. A comment pod is a method used among influencers whereby the users in the pod all comment on one another’s posts. Through a comment pod, a post will have many comments and therefore appear higher up on a follower’s feed. While learning about social media strategy took a lot of research, I ultimately discovered how much I enjoyed it. I love how social media strategy is about understanding and anticipating human behavior, and solving the puzzle of how to engage people with online content.

Based on what I learned in my internship last summer, I have been able to take advantage of several professional opportunities using my social media strategy skills. I now work at the Scripps Office of Parent Engagement , where I conduct social media projects such as “What Are They Up to Wednesdays”, featuring candid photos that I take of students around campus, and manage the Instagram and Facebook posts via Hootsuite. I am seeking an internship this summer that will enable me to further develop my social media strategy skills. Looking back, while my internship last summer did not at all fulfill my initial expectations of honing my photography skills, it gave me the serendipitous gift of learning about a new professional interest and skill, which is truly what an internship is all about.

Unplugged

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Em

Social media is pretty much my life. I have a really hard time being away from Facebook for too long. I often prefer YouTube to Netflix, and I probably use Snapchat to check in on friends about as often as I use messenger or texting. I also have a pretty smokin’ Pinterest—my fashion board alone has close to 500 pins.

I do not kid around with Pinterest.

I’m also a very political person, and I love using social media to keep up with folks doing the political work I’m interested in. I take Twitter very seriously, and I do my best to post interesting (and intelligent-sounding) tweets and articles. Even more than Facebook and Pinterest keep me in touch with my friends and beautiful shoes, Twitter keeps me in touch with the world. I love having a public profile and getting to engage with all kinds of folks in a public forum.

So when I found out this summer that I need to be cautious about what I post and say online because whatever I do might be used against my lawmaker, I was a little crushed. I need to be particularly careful about posting things that contradict my lawmaker on social media, which makes sense. But I also know the most about certain political situations in LA county, and I worry sometimes that I might post something related to LA that might get construed to reflect badly on the Senator.

Ok, Em, you say, just give up social media for the summer. Or at least make your handles more private.

That made sense initially. Sure, I can scroll but just refrain from posting, right? Or restrict my followers to close family and friends.

But then I realized that it wasn’t so simple as that.

You see, I use my social media handles to market myself. I am all about LinkedIn. My profile errs on the side of too much information. My Twitter adds extra dimension to the image people have of me after searching my name quickly. In fact, my office’s previous intern told me that part of the reason they hired me was because they found my LinkedIn, and were glad that they could know more about me than just what was on my resume.

That, to me, makes it all worth it. But maybe it isn’t really my decision. I’m not the one who comes up for election in a year or two. And I’m also not the one who makes the rules in the office regarding intern behavior (or anyone’s behavior, really) online.

At any rate, here are my thoughts so far on how to use social media when you’re working for a high-profile person who may be harmed by what you post:

1. Assume anyone you’re working for could be hurt by what you post. Always.

2. It’s easy to stick to news items to tweet. Find someone who’s not a regular headline news source and retweet them. I like to find White House press reporters on Twitter and retweet the quotes they get from media briefings with the President and other officials. It’s an easy way to post something with a little more substance than CNN’s main profile. News = no opinions (just make sure the news doesn’t make your employer look bad) AND White House press team = ooh look how savvy you are.

Reason 2.5 to follow a White House reporter on Twitter.

3. Use your presence to hype up what your employer’s doing. This earns you brownie points with your employer and also might tell future employers that you’re loyal and enjoy the type of work you’re doing.

Still, do these benefits and good ideas outweigh the problems inherent to a public forum system?

So what do you think? Is social media too dangerous to do any good? Or is the leap of faith worthwhile and exciting? Let me know your thoughts on this! I could use a little advice.

Professional Online Presence

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Lauren

Ever since social media became “a thing” experts and parents alike have been telling us to “watch our online image.” There’s so much information getting put out there on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, WordPress, Instagram, and LinkedIn. But where’s the line between fun and professional? While I wish to explore the “professionality” of all of the social media sites, I think the most important at this point is LinkedIn.

When you start coming into CP&R on a somewhat regular basis, they’ll ask you about your LinkedIn profile. What does it mean to update that? What’s the conduct for connections? That dreaded LinkedIn photo? That’s what I want to explore.

LinkedIn helps to keep track of people you meet after attending networking events. It’s like an online folder for business cards. It can also be used as an informal and casual way to get advice from alumnae or other connections. It can also be used for your friends and colleagues to connect your with their connections for networking and getting internships and jobs. (If you don’t know how important these are, look back at my previous post.)

In my Core II class about gender and economics, we read a study that explored the implications of sending a photo along with your resume. The results explain that you should not submit a photo because women who are making decisions often feel jealous of an attractive woman and men who are making decisions feel that attractive women are less credible. As a result, when CP&R told me to start a LinkedIn I didn’t want to have a photo. Here’s why I finally gave in:

Despite my qualms about sending a photo with a resume that could potentially have employers make implicit judgments one way or the other, I realized that it’s also unprofessional to have a profile without a photograph. Even though they have the same implications for employers and employment, it is appropriate to include a photo on your LinkedIn page (almost inappropriate if you don’t) while I would highly suggest not including a photo with your resume at it seems as though you are trying to get by on your looks. On a more personal note, picking a LinkedIn photo is really important. You need to pick a photo with good lighting, you shouldn’t be making a weird face, you shouldn’t be sweaty and in work out clothes, etc. This may sound fairly obvious, but I can’t even tell you how many photos I’ve seen like this and it makes the rest of your profile seem less credible.

In terms of connections, don’t treat LinkedIn like Facebook and become friends with someone you were friends with at camp or in middle school or had class with last semester. You should only connect with friends who you can talk about in a professional capacity, speak to their character, work ethic. Think about it this way: connect with someone on LinkedIn if you feel comfortable being a reference for them during the job search process.

LinkedIn is an important aspect of your professional image and development and should be taken seriously, more seriously and with more intentionality than the other social media sites.

“It’s Complicated” with my Students on Facebook

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Ariel

Right now I have 36 Facebook friend requests pending from my students. I haven’t quite decided what to do with them.

According to socialbakers.com, Milka is the second most popular brand for Bulgarians on Facebook… I totally understand why!

About one-third of Bulgaria’s population is on Facebook, which includes nearly all of my students. On the first day of school I told my students plainly, “I won’t be your Facebook friend until after this year is over.” Hello, boundaries!

Instead, I tried to engage my students through Facebook groups– one for each grade level I teach. After I had set these groups up, I told each of my classes about them, expecting they would use the search function and join. For one grade level where all my students had Facebook accounts, I even assigned Facebook “homework” asking them to join the group and make three comments on the photos I would post.

No takers. On Facebook homework.

Really?!?

In the last few weeks I have had more students join the groups, thanks to the help of one of my colleagues. The teachers at my school (who I am friends with on Facebook) have few qualms about befriending their students online. One such teacher joined the groups to help me invite and add students. Even so, most students do not post or participate in the discussions. I wonder if befriending students on Facebook would give them more contact with American culture/media, and help my understanding of Bulgaria by forming “friendships” and getting more perspectives on life in Smolyan. Many Fulbright English Teaching Assistants here are friending their students and getting a lot out of that bond. It makes it easier to learn names at the very least.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that student-teacher relationships and social media don’t always mix well. During the first few weeks, a Fulbright friend of mine here posted about her frustrations with classroom discipline and student conduct on her personal tumblr. They were things that many of us Fulbrighters were thinking/feeling, but said in excessively strong language (read: like a sailor). Bulgarian students are a tech-savvy bunch, and it wasn’t long before her students read her post. Hours later she had an anonymous and threatening message sent by someone claiming to represent a group of her students. The conflict eventually resolved itself, but it was unnecessary drama that might have been prevented through self-censorship or distancing online and real-life identities.

So, should I break my own rule and friend my students early? If I did, would it mean I would have to stop sharing snarky, aggressively liberal Jezebel articles on my Facebook timeline? Or should I wait until the end of the year and possibly miss out on legitimate cross-cultural friendships?

Networking at the Acapocalypse

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Bryn

This past Saturday, my a cappella group, the After School Specials, packed up and headed south to San Diego for a regional collegiate a cappella invitational. Besides the fact that the concert was extremely fun and our group totally rocked it, the whole event was a great lesson in networking.

The event was called the Acapocalypse and was hosted by the a cappella group Pointless at Point Loma Nazarene University, which has a beautiful campus literally on the ocean. Seven groups from around Southern California performed in all, and the show also included a beat boxing battle. Here’s our beat boxer, Pomona freshman Pranay Yeturu, wowing the crowd with his 30 second piece (he won, if you were wondering). As the group’s Event Coordinator, I’ve been interested in increasing our presence off of the 5C campus. We perform on campus very often, whether for school sponsored or student run events, but haven’t spent much time touring other campuses or performing at invitationals alongside other groups from the area. In an attempt to change this, we’ve been carefully cultivating our Facebook and YoutTube page and were delighted to have been invited to the Acapocalypse, especially when the student organizing the event told us he had found out about us through Facebook and by watching our videos. Online presence and how you portray yourself in different online communities can really make a difference in how a group is perceived in the a cappella world, and I anticipate the same being true for me personally and my forthcoming career search.

Daniel, Aleina, and I during vocal warmups for our performance at the Acapocalypse

Throughout the event and afterwards at the get together Pointless hosted few were able to mingle and get to know groups from other schools (including USC and SDSU). This was fantastic because we were able to connect with groups that we hope to host here at the 5Cs and possibly travel to perform with at their colleges or universities. Members of different groups were able to bond over a shared love of music and interest in getting to know others involved in collegiate a cappella. Just as I’ve found in situations that allow for networking related to personal career, finding commonalities and shared interests can be a great entry point to making a connection with someone who you might benefit from knowing or who might benefit from knowing you in the future. It’s great to keep your options open and make contact with as many people as possible, plus it’s just fun to meet new people and hear about their life and career experiences. I think immediately of an event in Beirut that surprised me as being a fantastic networking opportunity: a homebrew festival at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon. At this event, I was able to make a connection with someone who worked in the Foreign Service over how completely adorable I found his dog, pick his brains about the Foreign Service exam and his experience working for the State Department, and get his email for further questions and help. I also made connection with the CEO of one of the top brewing companies in Lebanon (961) over the fact that I work in a brewery when I’m home in Santa Cruz who after our chat offered me a job working for him whenever I’m back in Lebanon. Moving back to Beirut is an option for after graduation, so having some possibilities already set out should that happen is fantastic.

The group got to stop at the beach on our way to sing to enjoy some sun and stick our toes in the water

Back to a cappella—the trip also reminded me of how essential to life being able to take things in stride and problem solve can be. Continue reading →