We’re on the day after the end of Volunteers’ Week 2015 now, and here we return to the theme of Digital Technology and Volunteering that we explored previously.
Here’s Vicky’s reflections on Volunteering and Digital Technology…
Social media is something that you either love or hate, a bit like Marmite; an online presence, either through a website or social media profile, is becoming an essential for organisations. We need to be able to effectively communicate our aims, objectives and successes to the world and our supporters in an accessible format, the most common of which is social media.
One essential fact that we have to begin to incorporate into our online presence, both personally and professionally, is that we need to portray the right image; if, like myself and many others, on your facebook profile you have identified the organisation that you work for then you are automatically a representative of that organisation. So all those pictures and statues that you post about having fun whilst drunk are not giving the organisation that you work for, or support, the best reputation. I’m sure that you’ve all heard of the Police and Crime Commissioner in the south who appointed a young person amidst much media coverage, only to have to release them due to inappropriate social media posts. There are more and more employers taking the time to look into the social media background of prospective employees.
Even as a volunteer you should be aware of what you are posting on social media sites – could any of it come back to haunt you later?
The other piece of simple common sense advice I can give is to check it before you post it, you never know what simple typing mistake may turn something innocent into the blackest sin of the millennium. In the office we have been saved by doing this more times than we can count, especially with editable pdf application forms when copying and pasting into them, only to find that all the formatting has gone or half the words seem to have disappeared.