The Educated Emotion

Linkedin is now shinier and more functional than ever! I haven't had time to go through all the new features yet, but here are my favorite three new features so far: 1. Familiar Menu and Profile . You don't have to dig through drop down menus on your profile page for basic information like 'Notifications' and 'Messaging'. Also, the profile and header area take up less space so you can see more information above the fold. 2. A Clean Home. Did you ever feel like you needed a map to get around your own home page? Yeah, me too. Now there is a distinct newsfeed/timeline in the middle with your own numbers on the left. 3.  Easy to Navigate Privacy. I remember taking 15 minutes just to explain to a class where to find some of the privacy controls in LinkedIn a few years ago. Now it is laid out so clearly I dare say other social utilities might take note! I imagine there will be more I'll have to say about the new improved LinkedIn over the next f...

Last week, I had professional photos taken. This was after several situations came up in the past few months where I was asked to provide a professional, high resolution photo of myself to go with my bio. I found that I had plenty of selfies, goofy, and off guard pictures, but none that represented me professionally. After reaching out to my young, retired photographer friend and writing buddy I had a photo shoot. It was much less painful than expected and she sent me sixteen decent photos among three backgrounds to choose from. I narrowed the poses down to the top six choices from myself and family, but still wasn't sure which picture would encapsulate my personality and professionalism at the same time. So, I took my photos to Facebook to poll friends, family, and followers. Top four photos chosen in Facebook poll. Photography Credit: Bethany Neal. I labeled each of the six poses A through F and asked people to choose one of the options. What happened next was completely u...