Advantages of a Professional Learning Network

My name is Jose L Garcia.  I 'm a Senior Business Major at Stockton University.  I have a Associates Degree in Logistics through the Community College of the Air Force.  I work full time with the NJANG as a Training and Deployment Manager.  I maintain over 75 employees training records.  I am also a business partner in a Cross Fit Box in Vineland.  You can look us up on Facebook or Wodify under "The Body Shop / Cross Fit 47".  In my spare time, I coach my daughter's  basketball team for CYO.

The Social Media book by Mike Gusler, "Discover the Magic of Social Media Marketing", is a subject that I am interested in as a business owner. The author went from a total newbie, to building a successful business with some coaching. The business created a very successful contact list. The formula provided a way to get free traffic to your site and gives you the ability to grow your own email list.

Some of  the advantages of utilizing a PLN (Professional Learning Network) are locating people with whom to grow ideas (The Connected Educator, pg 92). You can find ideas and information that you can bring back to your community. You could also create one user name, locate a mentor, and follow individuals associated with your mentor. A healthy community will have a clear purpose and meet its members needs.

When utilizing  Twitter PLN you could engage, educate and report. You could also connect and establish relationships with other professionals in your field.  Connect faster with a browser like Tweet Deck. You can place different people on different lists for faster viewing.

When your Twitter list grows to a couple hundred people you should utilized the lists function in Twitter. If you select your profile icon drop down menu in the top right navigation bar or by going to your profile page and clicking on lists. Enter the name of your list, and than, select private or public and save. To add or remove people select the gear icon drop down menu on user's profile and select add or remove from lists. A pop up will appear displaying your created lists. Check the list you would like to add the user to, or uncheck the list you like to remove the user from. I have added three lists to assist me to stay organized:  Finance, Logistics, and GEN 2243 (Explore Your Digital Portfolio).

Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts is a great way to connect to your community. The options are numerous. Below are some examples: 

1. You can complete video interviews. 
2. On line coaching - Resumes
3. Offer online critique sessions
4. Business Meeting
5. Customer Support for your product or service
6. Host online launch parties
7. Live classes
8. Brain storm with your business partners
9. Virtual office hours

You can share your ideas with other professionals in your field. You can also link your Blog to Google plus. When you link your blog you should select the title in the body of the blog and copy that URL. By copying that URL the reader goes straight to your blog location instead of scrolling down to it.

You can also utilize Google Hangout Broadcast to build your business. You are able to stream to YouTube within minutes of the completion of your broadcast.


When you own a business every dollar counts. Google docs is a free option over MS Word.  It does not have all the bells and whistles of Word but like I mentioned it is free. You will need to determine if you require all those extra features on Word. 
 

After reading the article, "A (Very) Brief History of Artificial Intelligence", I went searching for a current event article related to AI and Finance. I found one in Twitter called "Why US tech giants are buying British AI start-ups", which caught my attention. US giants such as Apple and Microsoft are flocking to the UK to buy AI start ups as Britain establishes itself as the go to place for the technology. Below are some of the main points from the article. 

Spending Spree

1. Microsoft acquired Swiftkey (2016 London Based), an AI start up that makes a predictive keyboard for smartphones for $250 million.
2. Google acquired DeepMind (2014) which has recently demonstrated its ability to master the ancient Chinese game of Go for $582 million.
3. Amazon bought Evi Tech (2012 Cambridge) which produces a Siri-like product which users can talk to and ask questions.
4. Apple acquired an start-up called Emotient which has developed technology that can detect emotions.

The talent that is born out of the U.K.'s top universities Oxford and Cambridge is one reason behind the success according to the article. The founders of Swiftkey were ex-students at Cambridge and DeepMind's acquisitions, Dark Blue Labs and Vision Factory were from Oxford University. I didn't realize there was a acquisition battle going on in the U.K. for AI start ups. The US giants all want the next big thing. 

Guest speaker Cameron Brenchley

Our guest speaker this week was Cameron Brenchley, Vice President at Collaborative Communications Group.  Cameron works to develop and lead communication strategies that stand out in our crowded media landscape while helping clients navigate political and policy considerations.  Cameron received his masters in Legislative Affairs from George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management.  During our session, he recommended Linked In to our class as a way to stay connected to professionals in your field of interest.  I have since created my own account and will utilized it to follow individuals. His accomplishments in the field of Digital Strategy is very impressive. Cameron was the U.S. Department of Education’s first ever Director of Digital Strategy and implemented the Department’s first strategic digital plan. The above link will take you to a summary in Linked In. I asked Cameron to suggest ways a small business like mine (Cross Fit 47) can get their name out there utilizing e-media. Below are his suggestions:

1. Maximize search engine
2. Create a Web Page (In work)
3. Professional Twitter Account (Feeds)
4. Linked In (Prefers Linked in over Twitter)
5. E-Mail News Letter (Make sure it is useful Information)

•  Know your audience

We had a interesting discussion about the tool, Ready or Not.  It is a tool that lets you enter any Twitter or Instagram username and see every place that user has been and what they’ve tweeted while there.  It also includes a chart that shows how frequently users are at certain locations at certain times of the day. It is a little scary that this information is readily available for anyone to access.  Teaching Privacy want to alert people to the dangers they might not realize exist. “Most people,” he said, “do not know that if you tweet something this location data is actually publicly available.” We also had a interesting discussion on Geo-tagging photos. Presently it needs to be turned by you for most services and the data is only accessible via a service’s API. My group also had a interesting discussion on the Pros and cons of Instagram for Professional use. Here are the Pros and Cons we discussed as a group:




PROS

1. Good marketing opportunities
2. If customers are tagging or geotagging you, or your business, it will bring more attention to you
3. It is similar to Twitter where you can create a PLN with professionals in your intended field
4. Hashtags will connect any keyword searches to your images
5. Coaching Opportunities
6. Most people in the world use it
7. Cost Affective

CONS

1. If you set locations on Instagram, other people can see where you took your photo and can find where you are in an instant
2. Customers have the ability to link your personal account to your professional if you aren’t careful
3. Not very helpful if you don’t have images to go along with your content
4. Limited in some ways, usually have to use email for any professional matters
5. Having open privacy settings can lead to spam or abusive followers
6. Cannot put clickable URL’s

Ways Face Book Owns You

If a stranger approached you asking for your name, age, phone number, names of family and friends, and interests, with the intent of sharing that information to more strangers, you'd probably be hesitant to readily give up that information. Yet that's essentially what users do when they create their Facebook profiles.  You are entrusting Facebook to keep your information private, but your information is not owned by you. Facebook also has a policy in place that allows it to use your information to advertise to your friends. The agreement gives Facebook permission "to use your name and profile picture in connection with a brand you may like. These ads would appear on the profiles of friends' pages, but not strangers. Users also receive no compensation for their participation. You have the option to op out if you choose to.  In a Wall Street Journal article, Facebook also allows marketers "to target ads at users based on the email address and phone number they list on their profiles, or based on their surfing habits on other sites."

 How to successfully use Snapchat for your career

If you’re looking for a job or building your personal brand and want to figure out how to make Snapchat work for you, here are four suggestions to get you started:

1. Seek Out Potential Employers

Locate  companies utilizing the platform. Pay attention to the content they’re posting and how they’re engaging with followers.  You may be able to incorporate examples of how an organization is using the platform in your cover letter or interview, positioning you as a social media-savvy candidate.

2. Give a Behind-the-Scenes Look at Your Life

Focus on showcasing the skills and expertise you want to be known for. For example, if you’re looking for a job as an event planner, you could use the “stories” feature to create a tale documenting how you’re preparing for an upcoming event. This will be a heck of alot more interesting that writing a few lines about it in an email.

3. Turn Your Resume into a “Story”

This advice won’t work for every job you apply to. You’ve got to really know your audience before you ditch the old paper application in favor of a creative hire-me campaign, but it’s worth considering depending on the company and position. To get a better idea of what I’m talking about, check out a Snapchat resume example created by Elski Felson.

4. Follow Media Feeds

 Think of what organizations and companies can help you on your career path, and begin building your Snapchat stream. Check out the “Discover” section on the social media platform to get started. From a long list of media organizations (posting full articles, videos, and photos) under this heading, you can choose which ones interest you and begin following.