New Grad RN - Expected to have Twitter/Instagram accounts?

[Lemon Bars]

I am a recently graduated and newly licensed RN with BSN in California. I am looking for my first nursing job and reading various articles about job searching, interviews, etc. I just read an article that recommends doing research on companies that I plan to apply to by visiting these companies' social media sites. I have a Facebook account, but I have never used Twitter or Instagram. Do I need a personal account to access this information? As a professional nurse who is expected to keep up to date on many things, am I expected to participate in Twitter or Instagram?

[caliotter3]

In short, no. What benefit do you see in that? Many of us nurses don't bother with Facebook either and get along just fine.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Having social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) is good in that you can use those platforms to network and learn the latest news about those companies, which you can use to your advantage when applying for jobs.

But is it mandatory? Far from it.

One thing I would recommend is that if you do decide to use social media in a professional capacity, is that you don't use your personal accounts, but instead create a separate set of accounts just for that purpose. A second set of accounts just for your career will let you work social media to your professional advantage, while letting you keep your personal social media just that: personal.

Because let's face it, no matter how tight you keep the settings on a personal account, there's still a risk of potential employers seeing something that you don't want them to see (you can Google lots of Twitter horror stories to see how things posted years ago can come back to bite you in the rear).

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

You can look at Twitter without having an account. I don't have an account and I occasionally go on it just to see what kind of rant DT has gone on lately. And that article probably just suggested it as a way to gain some more information about your prospective employer/see what they post about.

[Ashley_SF, BSN]

I don't believe it's necessary to have any social media accounts. You can find out plenty about potential employers from looking at their website. A lot of places will even have a feed integrated into the website where you can see their social media posts without having to access Facebook/Instagram/Twitter.

As a side noted, considering the trouble that people can get into at work regarding posts on social media, it may be best to avoid it all together!