I personally hadn't even heard of the term 'web 2.0' before taking up this course. I now realise though that it is something that is part of my life almost daily!
Looking at my life as both a professional dancer and as a dance teacher I can see that there are multiple benefits and drawbacks of web based communication.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and alike are all great platforms for advertising and marketing a business. Just as the 'Pay it Forward' initiative starts with one person and helps many, the same thing can happen with a Facebook 'like and share' campaign. It's a must for any new business starting up. It would also work to promote yourself by liking and sharing your showreel for example. Hundreds of people could have watched it within minutes. Easier for 'the right' person to view it if it's readily available to them.
A negative of this, like one of the groups said in their video is that this can make us lazy. After posting said video do we then leave it at that and think we've done enough? Leave 2.0 to do it's magic? Does it mean we shouldn't make the effort to do marketing in person? If I were to go around local cafe's/place's of interest with flyers to promote my new dance school, people might take more notice having met me in person than just another post on their newsfeed. And is it possible to get the full impression of someone from their CV or showreel anyway?
If you are lucky enough to get people 'following' your page it is an easy and fast way to get information out to them. If a class time or venue has changed it could notify them when you post on your page. This saves you ringing round each parent/student and is far more efficient.
Using web 2.0 can also help you generate interest for that days classes, for example. Let your followers know how excited you are to teach that lesson, or even what you will be teaching, and it will help prepare your students and get them geared up well before the lesson even starts. You can also give credit to a good class or particular student afterwards. Doing it publicly like this will help build your students confidence and act as an incentive to work hard within the lesson.
Having a public profile on web 2.0 communications gives prospective employers a sense of you who are, whether this is the 'real' you or not. This can act as both a positive and a negative. Sometimes it's hard to separate your personal and professional life unless you have two completely different names or accounts. Information that you might put on a website for a prospective employer might not be what you want your 'best friends boyfriend's sister' knowing about you. I recently realised that having posted my details on a dance job website, the whole world can now find out what size feet I have as well as what size chest!! I thought that my details on that website would only be available to people who log on to the site, but apparently not. The same goes for seeing my showreel and dance portfolio pictures I have put on there.
Before having to do this assignment I had never thought about the negatives of web 2.0, only the positives. There are many positives and with the instant world that we live in, you or your business would be left behind without these communications. But are they really helping us as much as it seems on the face of things?
Thanks for this Rachel - I like the way you are applying the thinking form Part 1 to your own circumstances - and entering the dialogue for this part of the course. You have mentioned the public audience - your CV being open to everyone! Yes I feel a bit exposed with Google + and do mean to find the time to make sure I know what is 'out there' but I just try to be discreet whenever I am online now. I think the dangers can be in a hastily written email - where people think there is privacy but there is not - so discretion and accepting one's professional persona(s) as public might be a necessary skill set these days in the workplace.
ReplyDelete