Social media plays a huge role in the job search. It’s also a great way to monitor what peers and coworkers may be up to.

Anyone can pull up Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and keep track of what someone is posting and how they are socially representing themselves.

Twitter is an effective tool for most businesses to network and stay relevant while informing their consumers, readers and followers. With the 140 character limit, they are able to draw the attention of their followers with a brief and catchy lead, while oftentimes including a visual or a link to a website.

Most of the time, if you search for a business and scroll through their page, you will find constant updates or promotional catches, which make for a great marketing scheme. Not only are followers seeing updates, but oftentimes the followers will retweet updates, which then may connect them with more followers.

Businesses are using Twitter to promote themselves and their brand and also to network with other companies and keep up with their status. Employers are using it to network with potential employees and vice versa, as it is a way for individuals to display themselves, and their talents as well.

According to Rosemary Haefner, the vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, “Social media is a primary vehicle of communication today, and because much of that communication is public, it’s no surprise some recruiters and hiring managers are tuning in.”

Now, many young people do not use Twitter specifically for professional purposes. Twitter is a fun environment where you can engage with friends, share how your day was or simply just utilize it for recreational reasons.

While it’s wonderful for these reasons, it is important you have limits to what you share online, as this is true of any social media tool.

You don’t want every other tweet you put out there to include three different cuss words, or post numerous pictures showing off you and your friends boozing it up and taking body shots off of strangers from last Thursday night.

Many people wish to utilize Twitter for both recreation and professional reasons, so in that case you may consider having one personal account and one professional account.

If you are concerned about your privacy, it may be a good idea to make your personal profile private, so only select groups of people may see the content.

According to Forbes and statistics from CareerBuilder, when employers were asked why they use social networks to research candidates: “65 percent said they do it to see if the job seeker presents himself or herself professionally. About half (51 percent) want to know if the candidate is a good fit for the company culture, and another 45 percent want to learn more about his or her qualifications. Some cited ‘to see if the candidate is well-rounded’ and ‘to look for reasons not to hire the candidate,’ as their motives.”

Based on these statistics, it is evident that social media plays an important role in the job seeking process and is a key addition to business and the marketing of companies. If you are not using Twitter as a networking tool, it’s time you jump on the bandwagon and utilize it to your advantage.

Jessa Schroeder is a columnist for The Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].