Month: September 2020

What is a digital identity?

A digital identity is the congregation of a person’s online presence, and how this presence is viewed by the rest of world online. Building your social identity is a very important step in 2020 as everything seems to be moving to the digital realms. You can have a positive digital identity by sharing meaningful content and providing positive feedback to the people you follow. Contrary to that, you could build a negative digital identity by engaging in hateful commentary and promoting/providing negative content on the web.

How do personal versus professional approaches to digital identity affect social media use?

There are many uses for social media but there are two main ones that I will elaborate on. The first use for social media is for leisure. People use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like for interacting with friends, sharing videos, and playing games. Contrary to this, social media can be used to create a professional personal identity. For this, users look to platforms such as LinkedIn where the individual can showcase their professional skills and achievements in an online resume. These platforms make it much easier for business owners to connect with potential employees who are perfect for their open positions. It also gives employers the ability to search for the exact skills they are looking for in a worker and allow these connections to be made much more efficiently.

How do digital identities converge in networked publics – what are the impacts and/or benefits?

The net as a whole has allowed humans to communicate and access information at a profound rate which has come with some major benefits but also some major drawbacks. Some of these benefits include the ability to collaborate on projects from anywhere in the world. Someone in China and someone in Sweden could be working on the same engineering project together by collaborating using Google Docs. Another benefit is the ease of news transmission and the ability for everyday individuals to speak up on these news topics. It is amazing that a normal individual has the ability to vocalize their opinion on an issue and have the potential to reach the whole world with their idea. The main drawbacks of digital identities in networked public is the mass amount of negativity. On Twitter and Reddit especially, the platforms allow users to create anonymous accounts which is a serious problem. Users with an anonymous profile are able to say whatever they want to say to people without tarnishing their biological identity. There is no accountability with these people and lots of the time, these hateful anonymous accounts are constricting social platforms by weeding out the positive and beneficial material. If social media companies would exile anonymous accounts and try to alleviate some of the negativity, social networks would be exponentially more beneficial to the acceleration and progression of humanity.

What does it mean to network using social media?

Networking on social media has become one of the main means of communication in 2020. First of all, social media allows you to be instantaneously up to date on major news events around the world. Rather than having to wait for the evening news daily, you can look at the major events as they are happening in real time. Secondly, it allows you to have a vast network of human resources that you can connect with from anywhere in the world. I have found this has kept me closer with my friends and family who live back in my hometown by keeping me up to date with their daily activities. It has also helped me engage with classmates throughout my degree which has translated into a higher academic performance. Professional communication in the business world has grown significantly with the recent rise of LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a platform for individuals to showcase their personal accolades, skills and previous work experience. It essentially acts as an online resume for individuals. LinkedIn also acts as a communication platform for business to interact with other businesses, potential employees, current employees, consumers etc.

How do people learn & engage using mediated platforms?

There is an incredible amount of information passed around on social media which provides countless opportunities for learning. Whether it be short videos on Tik Tok showing you how to perform cool dance moves or a video showing you a stock market trading tip, the opportunities are endless. You can follow the best professional photographers, business professionals, celebrities and numerous others, who all post informational and entertainment content all the time.

How are we motivated to participate in networked publics?

Since social media has become a major part of everyday life for the majority of the population, I believe that individuals and businesses would be setting themselves back greatly by not being involved with all of these platforms of engagement. The speed at which communication activities can be done through social platforms is insurmountable compared to the old ways of communication (email, fax, etc.). Business to business, business to employee and business to consumer interactions are all streamlined which creates more efficient and effective commerce.

What are the risks & rewards of public communications?

With all of the rewards that come out of social media, there also come a few risks that you have to be aware of. Privacy is a huge issue when it comes to the use of social media. The more information you put up about yourself online, the more information someone is going to have if the find a way to illegally access your social media accounts. I was on the receiving end of an unfortunate hacking situation which saw me lose my personal Instagram account I had been building for 8 years. This was very devasting for me as I had to change passwords for over 20 other accounts to make sure this person couldn’t get access to anything else I was using. It was also devastating because it takes a significant amount of time to build a loyal following and losing something of that nature in the business world is quite a loss.