Why a social profile is important
I aim to use these social networks to promote my services to potential employers by providing links to my work in my social portfolio.
Methods of self-promotion
Twitter is a social networking platform primarily designed for phone access and the platform of choice for megalomaniacs who use fake tan as soap. This means that it is likely to be accessed by users whilst on the go, and the brief 140-character limit of any ‘tweet’ ensures that this platform is perfect for capturing the attention of one’s ‘followers’. Twitter is also commonly used by brands for short advertisements of their products within ‘tweets’ and advertising spots on any persons’ timeline can be bought as an investment. The short ‘tweets’ and notification system allows customer service to be dealt with quickly, but the main reason that Twitter seemed an appropriate platform for my self-advertisement is due to its quick and easy user interface, suitable for keeping up a public appearance.
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Facebook allows you to digitally stalk your exes, share work and network with other people in the industry. Unlike its competitor, Twitter, Facebook doesn’t set a limit on post, picture or reply length and so allows a more immersive consumer/creator relationship, especially for items such as reviews or complaints. Facebook is also more useful for making connections with others in the industry through the use of the ‘friend’ feature and also has ad spaces available on the side of one’s ‘timeline’. Facebook stuck me as a useful website to self-advertise because, despite its similarities to Twitter, it is more convenient from a customer service point of view.
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LinkedIn, for the esteemed professional. This platform is specifically engineered for business, and orientated around making professional connections through those you know and those they know. Although LinkedIn is not used for self or product advertisement, it remains a suitable website for me to use as it allows me to pursue potential professional links and to keep track of existing ones, which is beneficial to anyone within a professional body.
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YouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing or streaming service consisting of a wide variety of genres, from professionally produced music videos to homemade ‘vlogs’ (video blogs). Recently YouTube has taken on a more similar content-sharing method to most other social platforms, allowing users to write posts, but its primary output remains as video content. For obvious reasons, I decided that YouTube was a suitable platform to use as it is the simplest way to share video content to the masses, which is appropriate for a Media student. YouTube videos can also be linked to on any of the other social networking sites I have mentioned.
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I have chosen these networks because I think they will be useful for promoting myself. I will upload links to my work on them.
Building a website and portfolio
Sites for creating a portfolio.
There are many sites for designing websites which can be used to build and host my online portfolio.
I could use either WIX, Squarespace or Weebly because, for all intents and purposes they are functionally the same. However, I will be using Weebly to create the site because I am most familiar with it, having used it created the site you're on now. It has all the features I need for embedding my work.
Another possible alternative which I considered was Wordpress. Wordpress allows for more freedom at the cost of requiring a greater knowledge of web design and coding in HTML.
I could use either WIX, Squarespace or Weebly because, for all intents and purposes they are functionally the same. However, I will be using Weebly to create the site because I am most familiar with it, having used it created the site you're on now. It has all the features I need for embedding my work.
Another possible alternative which I considered was Wordpress. Wordpress allows for more freedom at the cost of requiring a greater knowledge of web design and coding in HTML.
1. Yul Moreau
The page has a Synthwave style which I really like. It's a single-page site so you can scroll through all his work without having to click through multiple pages. It has music which automatically plays when you open the site. This can be pretty annoying so I don't plan on using it in my own portfolio. |
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2. Keiichi Matsuda
Matsuda's portfolio is fairly basic and minimalist and quite bland. The site he made for his film Hyper-reality, however, is bold and colourful to reflect the film it's about. I plan on using this on my portfolio by making parts of my site reflect the work they're displaying. The site had a short address (km.cx) which looks more professional than a longer one (e.g. cmprhyshemming.weebly.com) so I intend to use a shorter one for my portfolio by getting a free .tk domain. |
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- All the sites I looked at have consistent typography with limited use of different fonts.
- Media & design portfolios are generally light on descriptive text to let the projects speak for themselves.
My portfolio can be found at hemming.cf (or here).