Some thoughts on Leon Benjamin's 'Building brand me?'

How do I build brand me? from Winning by Sharing

Leon Benjamin, a blogger at Winning by Sharing has posted an excellent presentation, How do I build brand me?, on Slideshare. It contains some very useful and (for me) timely advice on social media networking and prompted me to add the following (now, slightly edited) comment:

Thanks Leon, seeing your blog and Slideshare has been timely for me. I spend a lot of time sharing links, writing posts and creating resources for my students and to build my reputation as a counsellor who is passionate, committed and knowledgeable about the profession of counselling. I have evidence from students, clients and colleagues that this is successful, but your blog and presentation has helped me to be patient, focus on the process rather than the outcome and to remember that influence cannot always be measured by immediate reactions and change. In fact these principles apply as much to client work in counselling as they do to my involvement with social media. And the fact that I am now thinking, 'This could make a good blog post' shows how much I have begun to think in terms of creation, curation and sharing. Best wishes, @MarsdenTherapy

So, here I am creating the very post I mentioned in my comment. I think this is an example of why I like social media and its networking potential. I'll make a list:

• I have Tweeted the link to Leon's blog on my Twitter feed to alert my followers to something interesting I've found on the Web. I'm particularly thinking of those followers who are also colleagues at the University Centre, Blackburn College and interested in developing Open Educational Resources (OERs) and using social media to engage learners.
• I have followed Leon on Twitter, 'liked' his Facebook page, added his blog to my feed, added his blog to my newsletter on Scoop.it and subscribed to his Slideshares. So I'm now 'connected' and have expanded my network. He may or may not subscribe to any of my social media sites but either way I'm going to be notified whenever he uploads content.
• Finally here I am embedding Leon's content in my own site and adding my own reactions. For me this is fun but it's also learning.

So, I shall continue giving time and attention to my social media accounts. It's fun to create and curate; it enables me to connect with colleagues from across the world; I'm able to engage with different opinions and experiences, new ideas and research; it develops my writing and critical thinking skills; and builds my reputation as a counsellor, supervisor and teacher who is working at being authentic and is certainly passionate about his work ... 

Now ... I need to add this to my blog and post a link on Twitter ...

Facebook, Twitter and Professional Boundaries

Counsellors are increasingly likely to use Twitter, Facebook and blogs to promote their practice and communicate with other professionals but can appropriate professional boundaries be maintained when using social media?

Over the summer I signed up for my first ever Facebook account and began collecting ‘friends’. Some were friends I had known for decades, some were ex-students I’d taught over the years and many were current students.

My intention was to create a social network that would allow me to interact with my friends and connect with my students. I began by posting links to interesting articles and research papers, complimenting people on their achievements and posting supportive comments whenever any of my new Facebook family met with adversity. Very quickly I became a witness to my students' unfolding personal dramas: nights out, hangovers, family celebrations and emotional crises. I have to say it felt inappropriate and after just one week, following discussions with colleagues, I deleted my first Facebook account.

I learnt two lessons from my first experience on Facebook. Firstly, I ought not to have mixed professional relationships with social relationships. Secondly, even though I might have been circumspect about the information I posted, I was nevertheless exposed to personal information about others that crossed professional boundaries. I am back on Facebook now with much stronger boundaries. I only accept friend invitations from people who really are personal friends. My response to students, supervisees and clients who wish to add me as a friend is heartfelt: let's not jeopardise or sacrifice a valuable professional relationship for something that is likely to be fairly superficial.

So how can I use social networking to promote my practice, share information and connect with other professionals and the public (including students and clients)? I have discussed this with colleagues and need more feedback as I tentatively embrace this new technology as a teacher, counsellor and supervisor. Here are three "platforms" I'm currently using:

Facebook Pages allow me to post on Facebook as "Marsden Therapy". Individuals can “like” my page and receive my updates but they have no access to my personal Facebook profile and I have no special access to their personal information either. This is still a work in progress as I haven’t developed my page yet or added any interesting content.

Twitter allows me to follow and communicate with other mental health professionals, post links to articles and feel part of an international community of counsellors and psychotherapists. I occassionally comment on things I’m doing but the vast majority of my posts are about my work and research interests. I have encouraged my students to follow me but I do not follow them and so far there have been no boundary issues.

Blogging is something else I like to do and again I’m working out what is and isn’t appropriate for a counsellor to share on a public forum. I want my personality to come through but I don’t want the blog to become too personal. At the moment I’m sticking to book reviews and mental health topics. But as my confidence as a blogger increases maybe I will relax and write more freely about my experiences.

Punk Education - Learning with Twitter!

I have been using computers since the 1980s, when I bought my first (and last) Amstrad. It was a portable, which meant it had it's own room in the house. How I marvelled at the green screen and dot matrix printer! Now I'm marvelling again, at the way I'm able to access and manage so much useful information flooding over the Internet. Google Chrome has taken my browsing into another realm: all my favourite sites are on the tool bar, snazzy extensions give me instant access to news feeds and the Evernote clipper. I can write a blog from there and shorten a long url before posting to Twitter.

I have been using Twitter as a research tool, checking out the articles posted by the Tweeters I follow, those interested in counselling and mental health. When I find a good article I return the favour and in this way a community of learning - a professional network - is built across the Web. My colleagues, Craig and Phil, at University Centre, Blackburn College, refer to this as "punk" education - learning that is informal and democratic, technology that takes knowledge out of elite universities and into the homes of citizens.

Just today I (finally) learnt how to use Google Reader and I have now subscribed to dozens of blogs, websites and podcasts. I can now dip into a stream of information about mental health as it travels down my computer screen. Anything interesting and I send it to Evernote, where I'm building a collection of interesting articles and opinion pieces. OK this is not a methodical approach to research, and I'm happy spending time in the library conducting detailed and systematic literature searches, but Google Reader is giving me an overview of what professionals in my field are writing, talking about and reading and it's great to be part of the conversation!