13 February 2014

SMARTER Debate:
How can we use social media in our professional life?

GEYC Resources Center team challenged their Facebook members to express their opinion regarding the social networks. The online debate pointed out how social networks could be used by young people in different countries and what benefits do they bring for the professional careers of youngsters.

SMARTER (Social Media Academy : Raising Teen Employability Resources) project, which will take place in Bucharest in August 2014, is directly linked with the subject of this debate, aiming to empower the participants to implement employability projects at local level by using social media tools. The participants are coming from 14 countries (Romania, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Cyprus, Malta, Greece, Croatia, Lithuania, Iceland and Turkey) and 16 organisations (non profit, bodies active at European level, informal groups).  

People from all over the world got involved in the discussion, offering pro and cons arguments: 

PROS
  • personal and professional development: finding internship opportunities, interesting events, courses and workshops 
  • sharing information with people interested in the same subjects 
  • socializing 
  • online education 
  • international networking 
  • developing a CV 
CONS
  • privacy concerns 
  • possible mix between personal and professional lives 
  • information accuracy 
  • aggressive advertising 
The people who shared their ideas about social networks were from Romania, Turkey, Croatia, Philippines, Germany, Armenia, Greece, USA, Lithuania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Portugal and the main social media tools debated were Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. 

The topic still remains open for further inputs. GEYC continuously supports young people in their way towards an informed life achieved also with social networks: see our initiatives: GEYC Resources Center page, GEYC Resources Center Facebook page, GEYC site, GEYC Facebook page.