Fiona Godsman

Why?

Basically, it really helps you to get to know people, by having brief conversations with them, and its a great way to build up a network of new contacts locally. I’m always meeting new people in real life that seem familiar, and its usually because I have already ‘met’ them on Twitter.

I find Twitter very useful for sharing information (both banal and useful) with others. It’s a great way of communicating with like-minded people and I like its immediacy, e.g. if I’m reading an article that I think some of my followers would be interested in, I can post it straight away.

A lot of people use it when they are at conferences, to tell others what is going on, and you can get a sense of the buzz around certain conferences and topics from it. If you follow the conference hashtag* you could also identify people from their tweets that you might be interested in talking to, and set up a meeting there and then.
*What is a hashtag? It’s this symbol #, used immediately in front of a word or abbreviation. e.g. #SIEsummit was used for the recent SIE Student Enterprise Summit. You can follow hashtags by using the search box in Twitter. Hashtags are also often used to keep track of different networking groups, such as #SWIB (Scottish Women in Business) or to promote events such as #themeet140, a regular tweetup that takes place in several UK cities. (A tweetup is a face-to-face meeting of tweeters).

In my opinion, the “banal” chat that people who are unconvinced by Twitter complain about is still worthwhile, as it helps you to build up a more personal picture of people and to get to know them better. After all, we usually prefer to do business with people we like! And if you ever feel like finding a drinking companion, check out #yeoldetwitterpub !

How?

It’s hard to explain how to use Twitter, the best advice I can give you is just try it (which is the best way to understand Twitter anyway). Once you have set up your profile**, start following a few people that you know, and see what they are talking about. You will soon find that you will want to join in the conversation. Just click on ‘reply’ and start typing.
**make sure you fill in a few details, so that people know who you are. A link to your web site or LinkedIn profile can be useful. And do upload a profile picture so people know you are a real person.

In order to make any sense of what people are talking about, however, and to keep track of groups of friends, its much better to use a third party application to access Twitter, instead of using the http://www.twitter.com web site. These applications are free to download and use and can be used on your computer, and also on mobile phones and iPads.

I usually use Tweetdeck, but sometimes I use Hootsuite, and Twitter also has its own apps for mobile phones. Take a look at their websites to find out more about them. The key advantage is that you can sort people into columns, so its easier to see what groups of people are saying. You can also use these apps to access multiple Twitter accounts (for example you may tweet in your own name and a company name), as well as LinkedIn and Facebook. You can also create lists directly in Twitter and then create columns in your chosen application to match these Twitter lists. Again, its much easier to do than to explain! As soon as I start following someone I add them to a twitter list, then they will appear in the tweetdeck column I have created for that list.

If you want to know more about using Twitter, and what people mean when they talk about ‘mentions’, ‘messages’, (DM’s), and ‘retweets’ (RT’s), visit Twitter basics. Though the quickest way to find out something, especially when it is about Twitter etiquette***, is probably simply to tweet your question, someone is sure to reply!
***Twitter may be a new way of communicating, but a few basic guidelines apply, if you don’t want to upset people.

Do feel free to follow me @Fiona_Go
I promise to follow you back, unless you haven’t filled in any profile details, or you describe yourself as a social media guru.

Update: I’ve just come across this helpful blog from @MrsMcDowall that explains #FF and hashtags in general; it’s worth a read.

Another update: a great blog on the importance of your twitter bio from @KtAndersonBlogs

I wrote this blog a while ago (Nov 09), and posted it on an earlier blog site. It has a Life Sciences focus, but it is relevant to any industry so I thought it was worth putting it here too.

My guide to using LinkedIn

I appreciate that there must be hundreds of blogs out there with this title, but its something I get asked about a lot, so I thought I’d add my voice to the choir. I’ve tried to keep to the basics, and to explain some of the benefits. Please do let me know what you think, and let me know how you use it too.

What is LinkedIn?
In their words “LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 50 million members and growing rapidly. LinkedIn connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals.”
http://learn.linkedin.com/what-is-linkedin
It is very widely used by people in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, and almost everyone I know professionally seems to be listed on it. Academics are using it too; over 300,000 people list their job title as ‘professor’ and a company search for University of Glasgow current employees listed 1,175 people!

Why is it useful?
If you know someone’s name, you can look them up and see their public profile. This can be very useful when you are meeting someone for the first time, as it gives you much more information about someone than their business card does. Although it is possible to put minimal information about yourself on your profile, most people do fill in details of their current job and interests.

You can look people up, not just by name, but by company, location, industry, key words. E.g. a search for key word ‘imaging’ in the pharmaceutical industry came up with 3,131 results. This makes it a very useful tool for finding people with similar interests.

You can join a group, which not only allows you to join in discussions and post questions, but often allows you to make direct contact with another member of the same group. There are thousands of groups in LinkedIn so it’s almost certain that you will find one that is relevant; for example a search for ‘medical imaging’ had 69 results, though molecular imaging had just 3 groups.

You can see what connections your connections have. You may find that you have a lot of contacts in common, even though you may have just met. You may find that they know someone who works for an organisation that you have been trying to get in touch with. You can’t always contact someone directly, but you can ask your contact to make an introduction for you.

Getting started.
The LinkedIn web site has a useful learning centre that provides a lot of information about how to use the different features http://learn.linkedin.com
This basic guide for new users will help you to get started http://learn.linkedin.com/new-users . It’s a good idea to use your personal email when you set up your account so that it is easy to update your profile when you move jobs.

The more detail that you can list in your profile, the better, as people will have a better understanding of what your skills are. However you don’t have to put your entire cv on LinkedIn at once, as it’s easy to add more detail at a later stage.

Once you have set up your profile, you need to start building your connections. You will probably find that you already know a lot of people that are in LinkedIn. You can import or upload your contacts from Outlook, webmail etc. and those already on LinkedIn will be highlighted. The more contacts you have, the more you will benefit, but make sure you only connect with people you know and are happy to be associated with.

Find some relevant groups and join in their discussions.

Update your status from time to time. By displaying what you’re currently working on, and where you’re planning on travelling to, etc., you invite your network to help you with advice and recommendations. Keep it professional though, it’s not like Facebook!

Make sure you log in regularly, to see what your connections are doing (their statuses and activities are featured on your home page). Get in touch with them if you think you can help them, or just to say ‘well done’. Making occasional informal contact with your connections via LinkedIn will help to strengthen your business relationships.

Above all, remember it is a two way tool. Use it to help you to interact with people, and make sure you become known within your own network as a person whose advice and opinions people trust.

Extra: just found this useful article; the slide presentation is a great illustration of how to search LinkedIn effectively. http://blog.linkedin.com/2009/12/11/linkedin-biotech/

You might also like my other, more recently written blog: Some practical tips on using LinkedIn’ http://wp.me/p19Yxm-23

UPDATE, 20th April, 2011
I’ve also just been reading a great blog by Jackie Cameron on why and how students and new graduates should use LinkedIn to help them get a good job. It’s worth a read: Students and LinkedIn – don’t wait until you graduate!