Mark Jacot

I often get asked “What do you use different social media tools for?”. I think the answer is personal, it depends on what you are trying to do.

I wanted to find a way of sharing useful information, and also communicating my direct and extended team. I lead teams of up to 250 staff and was part of the top-level leadership team in an IT department of about 1000 people based on multiple sites. For what it is worth, here is what I use and how. I’m still learning, so what do you use and have you found any other tricks and hints or tools that work in a business and leadership context?

1. Facebook – this is for my personal life and friends, the boundary is that those at work I would call friends if I did not work there are on Facebook.

2. Twitter – I’ve used that for about 4 years mainly sharing industry related information and short comments on media events in my sector of work. Followers are mainly work colleagues which is where I started using it, but the follower list is growing. I tend to follow news and industry commentators, it’s where I get most of my daily industry news updates..

3. LinkedIn – That is my electronic repository of business contacts, proves invaluable for both finding out information and understanding what is going on in different organisations and industries and keeping track of where colleagues are and what they are doing.

4. WordPress – the newest addition – that is this site where I host my website and publish my blogs.

As for Instagram, Pinterest and other sites my kids seem to use…… Not sure I understand them yet – has anyone found a use for them? However, I keep watching what my kids do and try to learn – my daughter is trying to explain the point of Instagram to me!