Transcript

INTERVIEWER

Can you tell me which social network you use at the moment?

MICHAEL

I use Facebook quite a lot. I use Twitter a bit. And I guess you would count SoundCloud as a social network as well, which is the music sharing site.

INTERVIEWER

OK, and can you tell me what you use each one of those for?

MICHAEL

Facebook, I use half for the standard Facebook thing of keeping up to date with friends and family and checking what people are doing, and half for promoting local arts and music events to the wider public. Twitter I use to promote arts and music events as well, and SoundCloud, just for sharing music we’ve created with the world.

INTERVIEWER

Can you tell me which social networking sites you use?

KATIE

I use several social networks and I use them for different purposes. So I use Facebook for staying in touch with friends, in a social way. And I use Twitter for professional networking with other people in my field. I also use LinkedIn for career-related networking. And I use academia.edu to list articles and presentations that I’ve done.

INTERVIEWER

What do you think the benefits are of these social networking sites?

MICHAEL

Well, I suppose SoundCloud is the best example of that. You can get your music online really easily and share it with anyone who wants to hear it. Before, you would have to upload things and format everything. With SoundCloud you literally just upload the file and you can link to it and direct people to the link. So instead of, you know, having to mess around with record labels and stuff, you can do stuff yourself.

KATIE

The main benefits are the way that they provide an easy way of keeping in touch with different groups of people. I do use them for different purposes. I find Facebook provides an easy way of keeping up to date with people I don’t see that often. And I’ve also been able to re-establish contact with some old friends I had lost contact with. And I use the messaging facility quite a lot. I’ve also used it to set up and advertise social events.

I use Twitter, as I’ve mentioned, for work-related networking, and keeping up to date with what’s happening in my field. And I sometimes find out things there first. So it’s a good way of keeping my finger on the pulse.

LinkedIn is where I keep my career profile. And again, I’ve managed to establish contacts with other people in my field. I haven’t yet used it to get a job, but I do know people who have.