Social Media Jobs--Blessings or Burdens?

ALI ROSENBERGER


Athens, Ga-- Due to the current state of the economy, jobs in many fields have been eliminated. However with the increased popularity of social networking sites, new jobs are being created in the name of social media.

Since the explosion of social media outlets, information sharing has never been so easy. Between social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, and multimedia sharing sites including YouTube and Flickr, people are coming together and making connections like never before.

With the number of people looking for information via social networks, it only makes sense that large companies and corporations jump right in. In the past few years, dozens of new positions have been made for the people whose job it is to stay up to date with social media. Titles such as social media consultant, community manager, online reputation manager, blogger outreach manager, and even social media editor have appeared on the “wanted” lists for some of the world’s largest companies.

The New York Times recently hired their first full-time social media editor, Jennifer Preston. According to the memo sent out by the New York Times—which Preston posted on Twitter—it is in her job description to concentrate full-time on expanding the use of social media networks and publish platforms to improve New York Times journalism and deliver it to readers.

The Internet and other media outlets in general have been a threat to printed publications for some time now; however social media has made the public even more dependent on the Internet as their main source for information.

Smaller publications have had to consider expanding to social media outlets to keep up with the rising trend. “My wife and I thought we could handle producing the magazine in print with just a few other writers on staff,” said Athens local Gregory Sanders, 39, managing editor at Athens Food & Culture.

The magazine was originally started in Macon, Ga., as a free guide to local restaurants and attractions. But, through print alone, Sanders worries that his magazine may not reach the high number of college students in Athens who tend to be more computer savvy.

“Our first issue just hit stands last week, and I’m already thinking I might need to hire someone to do a Web site or blog to go along with it,” Sanders said.

With the pressure of a recession and the ever fickle supply of jobs available, the explosion of new positions in the social media scene is a breath of fresh air for many soon-to-be college grads.

“I have been so nervous about graduating next year with a degree in advertising. We’re in a recession, nobody is buying anything,” said Rhanatah Griffith, 22, a senior advertising major at the University of Georgia from Atlanta.

“But now—thanks to the whole new dimension that social media has created to advertise through—there are more job opportunities for people like me, and there is a whole new frontier to master from now until graduation,” Griffith said.

Cecil Bentley, the Director of Corporate and Alumni Relations for UGA’s Grady College recognizes the shift in advertising and publication from print to digital, and the increasing need for students to build multiplatform skills to keep up with the job market.

“Many publications only exist online, and they require social networking to remain standing,” Bentley said. “Twitter and Facebook are ways to do business, they are places of constant and ongoing networking,” he said.

Bentley also said that employers are not hiring based solely on college courses taken or degrees earned. Companies are now looking for a broad range of actual, marketable skills, like how to successfully advertise using social networking sites. Since the digital age is becoming more and more like second nature to America’s youth, employers are looking to hire from the younger demographic—those who are in the know when it comes to social media.