Framing Your Image Learning Process

Framing Your Image

Written on December 4, 2010 – 4:17 pm | by Justin Fraser

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Blogger, Foursquare, Digg. There are endless ways to express thoughts, ideas and experiences on the Internet. Tayler, my best friend of 19 years, currently tweets for @nasahistory. After several weeks of back-and-forth conversation, she successfully convinced me to open a Twitter account. So while @AshleyJStarks is still low on followers, I have begun to embrace the world of hashtags, #dontfightit.

With that, I recently decided I needed to polish my Web presence. In my Language and Politics course, we discuss the art of constructing political messages. Frame the issue before you let someone else frame it for you. We have learned that the words and images chosen by the media and politicians to describe an issue have inherent associations that unconsciously shape our perception of reality.

I have realized that for college seniors and any job seeker, just as the media frames a subject, the Internet provides a forum for us to frame our own subjects, thoughts and personal image. As we continue as a society to develop and explore the powerful information sharing made possible by the Internet, we must also understand the responsibility that comes along with that power. I realize that on an individual level, the words and images I use and associate with online construct a message to the world and shape its perception of who I am in reality.

It is necessary to embrace the personal branding opportunities the Internet allows, but I caution my friends, and college students in particular, to be aware of the type of message you are constructing online. Whether or not an employer can access your Facebook account or follow you on Twitter, you want to be in control of how they perceive you. For a job interview, I wear a new suit and get a nice haircut, and as I review currently update my Twitter and Linkedin I want it to reflect the same expression.

Learning Process