Annette Szczepan

I have been told for so long by so many people of all ages that I spend too much time on social media. Whether I am lurking Facebook, sending out tweets or checking in on Foursquare, I am always sending my thoughts and my actions into cyberspace.

If my laptop isn’t open in front of me, then my Blackberry is glued to my hand. As long as I have signal or internet access, I am always connected.

However, despite what others have told me, last night my time spent on social media paid off. I got a job! A real job! Not that my current job as a Team Leader at McDonald’s is not a real job but this is the kind of job I am going to school for.

For the past couple of months, I have been interning with a New York based magazine. Yesterday I was on a call with the boss lady, also the editor-in-chief, and her assistant. They have so much planned for the magazine and are setting me in charge of all that is social media and internet related. I don’t have an official title yet but we’re working on it.

As I am based in Toronto, I have been doing everything via the internet. My social networking skills have especially come in handy. Due to this, I have produced great work with a quick turnout and that is what landed me the job.

Now I get paid for using social media! I’m even in the process of creating an iPhone application. How cool is that?

Social media just keeps growing and growing. It is the fastest way to expose yourself, your product and/or your service to massive amounts of people in an instant. So, I encourage everyone to maximize their social media use and become more influential. There is a lot that can be done if we learn how to properly utilize the social media websites that we recreationally use on a daily basis.