FINAL ASSESSED POST – THE END… OR IS IT?

13 days have been a fruitful journey as I had liberal and invaluable takeaways. Through this module, I obtained in-depth knowledge on digital literacy and the main features of social platform while expanding my professional online profile.

The slideshow below shows my improvement upon completing this module!

Ppt from Rebecca Liew

 

I’ll elaborate further on the improved points in the self test.

Previously, I gave myself lower ratings as I had only basic knowledge in the categories. Thus I made it a point to improve and get as much information as I could and I am proud to say that I have achieved a remarkable level of improvement from this module. I was able to maneuver new ways to enhance my professional profile, while protecting it from potential danger with proper management of online privacy and security.

(Professional Twitter – Public view)

After learning so much about online profile, I came to realize the importance of managing my online privacy and security as it could lead to unnecessary incident like identity theft. However, this can be prevented by not revealing too much information online and changing of privacy setting so only people you allow can browse through your profile like what I did to my personal Twitter and Facebook as shown in the picture below. With that raising of awareness of online privacy, I rated myself with a 4!

(Personal Twitter – Protected)

(Privatized Facebook)

To be honest, I had zero knowledge of websites like LinkedIn before this module. Nevertheless, now that I own an account, I would expect myself to commit more to online activities. Therefore, with the mild improvement made by stepping out and participating in online committees, I gave myself a 4 as reward.

(My LinkedIn account that was created after Topic 3 – two weeks old thus the profile strength was kept at “advanced” level only)

This module inspired me on a start of various career paths where I could apply what I’ve learnt. Definitely, it is important to build a professional online profile before starting anything. However, developing an online profile isn’t spontaneous but a long time of managing and maintaining of profile. By following various groups that consist of my area of interest, I would expect myself to gain more knowledge in the field of my expertise. There are also discussion threads in each group where I am able to share my views and widen my knowledge on marketing!

The photos below is the groups that I’m currently following to keep up with the latest news around the industry and gaining further insight and expertise in LinkedIn and Twitter respectively.

In additional to these steps, I would be exploring more methods to improve on my digital literacy, expanding my online profile and work my way into the industry.

Next up, I’ve created a video to present my learning journey!

 SO, SIT BACK AND ENJOY!

 

As the module comes to an end, I was able to widen my perspective and build up on my profile, while reminding me the importance of being ethical and not do anything detrimental to my career. Upon using the tools developed in this module, I am no longer afraid of having to juggle between my personal life and professional life!

(532 WORDS)

REFLECTION FOR TOPIC 5 – WE SHOULD GET FREE ACCESS

As students, we require FREE ACCESS to articles to aid us in our assignments. However, we might meet paywalls which stops us from accessing information without subscription.

(Image from myself, source from http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v4/n5/full/nphoton.2010.2.html)

 

I would like to EMPHASIS MY SUPPORT for open access materials which provides a more meaningful use of technology to accelerate discovery, increasing exposure to new information. It further facilitate learning where students are exposed to online materials FOR FREE!

(Image by myself, source from http://sparcopen.org/open-access/ http://bit.ly/2f0hHe9)

 

In general, everyone supports open access’s concept. However in Elvina’s post, she opposed open access as she felt that it was unfair that only end-user gets to benefits from it. On the contrary, I felt that both content producer (CP) and end-user like us benefits from open access as their work gets acknowledged through citation and they are able to build on their reputation. Moreover, restricted access might result an individual to commit actions such as downloading content through ILLEGAL WEBSITE like the image below.

(Photo : MusicWatch Inc.)

 

My thoughts are aligned with Mogan’s where he mentioned the pros of the issue such as increased readership and also cons such as the low quality produced from publication and sustainability cost to develop the content which could discourage content providers. I was amazed to learn how the pros could in turn, ELIMINATE THIS DISADVANTAGE by having increasing readership, and positive reviews could signify higher credibility which could be exchanged for funds from research organization such as ‘Coursera’.

Looking from a marketer’s point of view, I feel that the advantages of OA OUTWEIGHS the downside of it as mentioned in my previous post. Regardless of reputation or money, content providers are able to benefit through new solutions such as ‘Coursera’. With such benefits to gain, it might encourage people to start providing free content and create sustainable materials for all to use on the Internet.

(314 WORDS)

 

CHECK OUT MY COMMENTS ON:

ELVINA

MOGAN

TOPIC 5: SHOULD WE GET FREE ACCESS?

With the internet becoming more accessible, open content such as music or research materials are easily attainable online.

(Source: http://bit.ly/2eAvrBg)

With majority of our assignments on the web, students still run into access barriers while searching for research materials, forcing us to settle for what we can get access to, rather than what we need the most.

Personally, I’ve experienced countless times having asked to pay to get the access to the full text like the photo below.

(Source: http://bit.ly/2gas0SQ)

 

Times like this, it would certainly be great if information was readily available. An example would be getting free access to information through “open access”.

So, what is “open access”?

(Source: YouTube channel – Understanding Open Access @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2HMouOV-Lg)

Open access is the free, immediate, online availability of research article coupled with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment.

It aims for everyone that has internet access to be able to read and use the scientific discoveries that are generated through research particularly those which are largely funded by public monies (Doyle, 2004).

 

Hence, why is open access so important?

(Source: YouTube channel –  Why Is Open Access Important? @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTAr_Fam8jI

 

Benefits of open access:

1. Increased Readership

Enabling the results of scholarly research to be disseminated widely where more people can read and inherit knowledge, including people who are unable to afford journal subscription, thus increasing readership.

2. Business opportunities

Dispersing new ideas rapidly, which in turn triggers more research studies and business opportunities worldwide. In simpler terms, this generates more business ideas and could bring in more profit.

(Source: YouTube channel – Benefits of open access @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2JT23E1bRE)

 

Disadvantages of open access:

1. Publication Costs

Content Producers are paying publishing fees themselves to claim the copyright of their work and this could discourage them from producing their work through open access.

2. Sustainability

Since there is no funding from publication firm, the quality of the content may be poorer than those from traditional paid access models as they may be errors in the content and insufficient funding to sustain the article with new improved content in the future.

 

Should content providers make their work free?

An example of having to pay for content would be Taylor Swift, an American singer-songwriter. In her opinion, music is a form of art and having free subscription to an individual’s music would be undervaluing the quality of their “art”.

(Source: http://bit.ly/2eB7OZd)

She then pulled out her works from Spotify (music streaming service) as she felt that Spotify could lower her album sales by providing free music to people who doesn’t pay for the premium subscription.

(Source: YouTube channel – Taylor Swift Pulls Her Music off Spotify @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IOLXkCUObw)

 

(Source: http://bit.ly/2fTW2J9)

 

In a nutshell, I feel that open access is beneficial as content that is made free and available are of great help for research and educational purposes as a paywall would only hinder potential achievements from research.

(438 WORDS)

 

REFERENCES:

1. Zakaria and Norhayati, (2016), Handbook of Research on Impacts of International Business and Political Affairs on the Global Economy

Available at: http://bit.ly/2eZOhjG [Accessed date: 15 Nov. 16]

2. Chris Ashford, Jessica Guth, (2016), The Legal Academic’s Handbook

Available at: http://bit.ly/2eBczlE [Accessed date: 15 Nov. 16]

3. Alma Swan, (), Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Open Access

Available at: http://bit.ly/2fSlLya [Accessed date: 15 Nov. 16]

4. Marc Scheufen, (2015), Copyright Versus Open Access: On the Organisation and International Political Economy of Access to Scientific Knowledge

Available at: http://bit.ly/2fcicmx [Accessed date: 15 Nov. 16]

5. http://www.openaccess.nl/en/what-is-open-access/pros-and-cons
6. http://bit.ly/2f0bceM
7. http://www.righttoresearch.org/learn/problem/index.shtml

 

REFLECTION ON TOPIC 4 – ETHICAL ISSUES

The term Astroturfing is definitely new to me as I have never heard any mentions on it despite on the contrary, it’s happening around us daily through various forms of advertisement.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Guro-Dmiia8&app=desktop)

(Source: http://ww.stocklayouts.com/images/superviews/MD0290701-S.jpg)

QUESTION: ARE THE PRODUCTS/SERVICES REALLY AS GOOD AS WHAT THEY CLAIM TO BE?

Astroturfing is an ongoing ethical issue where it is cheating users who are influenced by social media celebrities to purchase a recommended product.

After reading my peer’s blog that discussed many different kinds of ethical issues, I would like to highlight JiaJun’s blog on how social media could be of educational benefits to student but, potentially a disadvantage as a distraction and surfacing as a platform where cyberbullying and plagiarism issues could occur.

The video below shows why cyberbullying occurs and ways to prevent it.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmQ8nM7b6XQ)

Moreover, I questioned Jiajun with the pros and cons of having anti-plagiarism website such as “turnitin” as I believe that having an anti-plagiarism website may help reduce plagiarism rate but it could lead to conflicts when there are common coincidental phrases.

On the other hand, I would like to highlight YY’s post on privacy issues where he shared a video on how Facebook abuses our information. However our privacy can be protected with measures such as revealing lesser personal information like our phone number and address on our social media and also deleting “cookies” from browser.

Credit: Russell Watkins Shutterstock

Nevertheless, I still think that astroturfing is a potentially harmful issue. It shocked me how social media could impact our daily purchase decision. Surely we wouldn’t want to feel cheated, especially by the influencer that we trust when buying certain product(s).

Thus it ponders me if this issue could be prevented. Is it necessary to add the numbers of disbelievers in social advertising in this digital age like the photo shown below?

(Source: From Singapore Blogger – Qiuting’s comments @ http://bongqiuqiu.blogspot.sg/2011/02/your-brand-is-not-special.html?showComment=1298610114743#c8109045302066090561)

(295 WORDS)

References:

http://www.livescience.com/37398-right-to-privacy.html

https://www.academiaapps.com/advantages-social-media-education/

Check out on the blogs I’ve commented:

YongYou

JiaJun

TOPIC 4 – BUSINESS USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA: THE EXPOSED

One of the defining phenomena of the present is the reshaping of the world into a digital era. With social media involved in sharing of content for business purpose in numerous platforms, ethics remains as one of the core value that each individual has a part to follow on the Internet.

(Source: http://www.statista.com/graphic/5/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users.jpg)

Ethics is defined the concept of what is good, bad, right and wrong. In social media, the right ethic equals the right perspective and thinking on how to leverage appropriately and to engage people in the right manner.

-POWER OF BLOGS-

According to data from a research study, nearly nine in 10 consumers (84%) make purchases after reading about a product or service on a blog.

Individual read blogs as a source of information for reviews/recommendations for new products/places. Bloggers are known to be more truthful as compared to exaggerated advertisements.

For instance, if I were to buy any cosmetic products, the first source of information will never be from the physical shop. I would rather read recommendations from Singapore Influencer Blogger – Bongqiuqiu and Xiaxue.

 

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUpkoIjdEu8)

(Source: http://lh5.ggpht.com/_NWD6eKBy8S8/THxBfT2jMGI/AAAAAAAAStw/XNmlbjXZlGU/s0/P1020009e.jpg)

The above are common methods of how a blogger advertises products through social media.

According to independent survey of UK consumers, bloggers are the third most trustworthy source of information, behind friends and family.

The truthful presentation of the topic is of vital importance to the readers thus bloggers are to carry responsibilities to be fair and factual to readers.

However, there are ongoing ethical issue such as “astroturfing”, where it’s defined as the attempt to create impression of widespread grassroots support for individual, or product, where little support exists which is seen sometimes in blogs and social media accounts.

-ASTROURFING EXAMPLE-

An example would be a well-known social media management company, Gushcloud where they were exposed of their unethical practices; bloggers are encouraged to fake and inflate their advertising reviews.

(Source: http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/yilinemail-328×450.jpg)

“Using SG Private Trainers, Xiaxue engaged the services of Gushcloud. She bought an Instagram ad for $300 where she wanted Yilin, one of the bloggers manged by Gushcloud, to promote her the company’s services without revealing the fact that it was an advertisement.”

Blogger XiaXue revealed that Gushcloud’s influencers are paid to post fake reviews like the one stated, instead of giving a honest review  upon the stated products/services. Ultimately they broke the readers’ trust with false information and ruined their own reputation.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x8259OvR3k – The consequences of astroturfing (Fake Reviews). Doctor Marketing – eMerit)

To gain credibility, influencers should have an honest representation of what they are promoting and not a distorted advertisement. Any intentional fabrication of any review could damage the company or blogger’s reputation.

Endorsement through bloggers is a great marketing method, but it should be executed ethically and professionally.

(440 WORDS)

 

REFERENCES:

http://www.wordstream.com/social-media-marketing

http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2014/12/25/xiaxue-versus-gushcloud-turf-war-begins-again/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/08/what-is-astroturfing

https://mor10.com/code-of-ethics-for-bloggers-social-media-and-content-creators/

 

TOPIC 3 REFLECTION – BUILDING OF STRONG AND POWERFUL DIGITAL PROFILE

(Source: http://cosfastfacts.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/featured-image.png)

After reviewing several blogposts on how online professional profiles can be developed, most of us can agree on the importance of creating multiple social media accounts despite the shortcomings of having multiple online identities that were shared on topic 2. By “owning” online platforms such as LinkedIn that facilitates finding and sharing opportunities, it benefits both candidate and employer in terms of hiring and getting hired easily through internet.

 

The video below shows exactly what LinkedIn is.

 

(Source: YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=SG&hl=en-GB&v=ZVlUwwgOfKw)

 

(Source:  https://www.jobvite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Jobvite_SocialRecruiting_Survey2014.pdf)

 

In reference to the picture above, we can conclude that the importance of having online professional profiles is due to social networking being a frequent source in recruiting employees.

Some pointers to ponder about after reading Wendy and Hazel’s blog are “how individual can ensure that they stand out among “competitors”?”, is LinkedIn really a “must have” for every candidates and what makes an individual so special that recruiter must choose him/her over the rest?

The video below explains what an individual “MUST-HAVE” in order to outshine others.

(Source: YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXbTtKbzkrw)

 

This includes:

(1)       A complete profile with photo

(2)       Simple and interesting headline to catch attention

(3)       Say “no” to buzzwords

(4)       Length of summary

(5)       Adding visuals

 

Ways to stand out:

(1)       Keep yourself updated with the news

(2)       Follow the industry influencers for career advices

(3)       Sharing and publishing useful and interesting content to show experiences   and knowledges

(4)       Adding volunteer experiences

“In a recent survey on LinkedIn, 42% of hiring managers stated they consider volunteer work equivalent to full-time work experience.”

 

Moreover, blogging can be bonus point as a factor in why you get hired over another candidate who has the same qualifications as you.

In today’s digital era, where we progressively becoming transparent with social media, it is exceptionally crucial how an individual portraits themselves online. Undergraduates like us are ought to understand the importance of developing professional profile as it increases the job opportunities worldwide.

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE, LET US START OUR JOURNEY NOW BY CREATING A PROFESSIONAL PROFILE!

(330 WORDS)

 

References:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/importance-excellent-professional-profiles-digital-era-maike-hennig

https://blog.linkedin.com/2014/01/15/the-linkedin-volunteer-marketplace-connecting-professionals-to-nonprofit-volunteer-opportunities

 

Blogs I commented on:

Hazel

Wendy

TOPIC 3 – MANAGING YOUR DIGITAL PROFILE

Facebook, Twitter and many other apps are user-friendly social media platforms for social networking. With an increase in social media users, be it for socializing or getting up to date information, it acknowledges our dependence on it

Despite the shortcomings of social media such as cyber-bullying and a decrease of verbal communication skills, it is still the best platform to provide opportunities for user to engage in self-presentation of identity such as developing an online professional profile which helps during job hunting on the web.

(Source: http://66.media.tumblr.com/e80770036832d3da9b021bf86bdbb1c0/tumblr_mzof8ewYof1r1wu4ao1_500.gif)

(Source: YouTube Channel @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbyv64_ykfI)

 

Having an online professional profile is a way of self-promoting and personal branding, in other words, “selling” and “marketing” themselves. The idea is to differentiate one from the others through digital presence. One effective method would be blogging. If you think that blogging is simply a record of daily events, YOU ARE WRONG!

(Source:https://www.pinterest.com/pin/303359724872670775/)

Blogging helps to demonstrate the passion of an individual which does not reflect in the resume which comes handily especially if it is related to the job vacancy. Well written blogs enhances the creativity skills of an individual to the employers. For instance, Mary and Jessica are applying for the same job vacancy with the same qualifications, skills and experiences. The Employer will be exposed to additional information such as knowledge to the job scope and this can be presented by applicant’s blogging habits, to display their enthusiasm for the job by keeping themselves in the loop and knowing the latest updates.

 

Here are some advises and a video in developing a good professional profile!

(Source: YouTube Channel @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmfoUDMaoDM)

 

1. Having short, clear and interesting “about me” section by adding some flair
2. Include link to your social media for profession usage
3. Assessable and straightforward in working experience section
4. Deep elaboration on your interest and passion
5. Having a clean photo of yourself

With that, each individual can now develop digital professional profile that will amaze everybody!

As social networking begins to gain popularity, it has also emerged to be the utmost powerful digital tool for both unemployed and employers. According to research, 73% of the organizations uses platform like LinkedIn (where individual’s skills and achievements will be included while updating your profile with relevant areas of expertise while backing them with evidence to convince recruiters on authenticity (For Dummies, 2015)) to engage and recruit the potential applicants. Contrary to traditional approaches of face-to-face Interviews, social media research focuses on individual’s communication skill. Thus, an individual with an online presence would possess an advantage than those without in a job application.

.

Self-reflection time! “Where are you right now in terms of the digital presence”? “How do you manage your own digital profile?”

(440 WORDS)

 

References:

http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/frequency-of-social-media-use-2/

https://www.jobvite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Jobvite_SocialRecruiting_Survey2014.pdf

https://www.looksharp.com/blog/how-to-create-a-killer-online-professional-profile

Hana S. Noor Al-Deen & John Allen Hendricks, (2012), Social Media: Usage and Impact

Available at: https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=MDQDaw9F2AwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Social+Media:+Usage+and+Impact&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjnr5C0m5vQAhWMOY8KHXfLDYMQ6AEIJDAA#v=onepage&q=Social%20Media%3A%20Usage%20and%20Impact&f=false [Accessed date:9 Nov. 16]

Roslansky, R. (2014, February 19). The Definitive Professional Publishing Platform. Retrieved November 5, 2015, from http://blog.linkedin.com/2014/02/19/the-definitive-professional-publishing-platform/

REFLECTION FOR TOPIC 2- IS HAVING MULTIPLE ONLINE IDENTITIES GOOD OR BAD? #MANG2049

Here’s some reflection to how I felt after researching, reading and commenting on my colleague’s post. Many of my peer’s agreed that multiple online identities allows one to express themselves without the fear of judgements and inequity as it gives them a chance to communicate openly about sensitive issues, while keeping their anonymity multiple digital personas thus able to control what we wish to share with the right group of people.

Through XinHui’s post, I had an interesting read which awed me in regards to the effect of having multiple online identities on how people expect one to be in reality as compared to expectation.

I would like to quote her example on Tinder where the user admitted on the difference between her virtual self on tinder compared to her actual self. While it is not illegal to perceive a different look from your actual identity, it might cause several complications such as an identity fraud and it also reflects in a lack of integrity in one’s character. There have been abuses on multiple identities where there are crimes committed such as online scams through false profiles on social media platforms. This could bring about a threat to other social media users as well.

Meanwhile, from WanSia’s post, it provides clear understanding on the necessity of multiple identities and how it could be essential to us with a good example of a job application where it is a good practice to possess a corporate identity or profile where it displays your professionalism which is of utmost importance to your potential employers.

In a nutshell, having multiple identities could be useful such as a job application or helping minorities to speak up. Each individual plays a crucial part in being a responsible user and should not abuse the powers of having multiple identities. With everyone exercising healthy control on the Internet, it could become a healthy and wonderful place for everyone to be in and aid us in our daily life.

(330 WORDS)

Blogs I commented with regards to Topic 2:

WanSia

XinHui

References:

https://enveritasgroup.com/campfire/separating-work-and-personal-identities/

http://www.michaelzimmer.org/2010/05/14/facebooks-zuckerberg-having-two-identities-for-yourself-is-an-example-of-a-lack-of-integrity/

TOPIC 2: DO YOU HAVE MULTIPLE ONLINE IDENTITIES?

WHY CREATE MULTIPLE IDENTITIES?

This blog post aims to make a statement about the pros and cons of having more than one online identity.

Many people “owns” multiple online identities on the web. Internet identity is a social identity that internet user establishes in the online communities and websites. They are the faceted identity constructed by individuals to represent themselves in specific situation, such as when an individual creates additional Twitter account especially for profession use when he/she already own a personal account. This will help separating private posts and posts for work. However, online identity often raise questions regarding creditability and reliability as certain fragmented identities are meant for specific purposes (Francisco Yus, 2011).

 

 

 

PROS AND CONS

Having many online identities prevents oversharing of personal information on one media platform and providing creativity and freedom of creating a persona of whatsoever they want to be. However, the negative impact of having multiple identities should be taken into accounts as well, such as the reliability of an individual as people might not trust a person who retain different characters online.

PERSONAL OPINION

Personally, I used to own multiple online identities on same social media platform, such as the fact that I have had three Facebook accounts before, with one being a private account, where only my close friends and I can accessed to it and share videos to one another, second account for casual usage and lastly, one for profession usage where I use to share study-related videos to peers. On the other hand, I possess accounts in other social media platform such as Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. It may seem that I have multiple personality disorder at first glance, however, it became common for youngsters nowadays to have different accounts so they can separate personal and work life as well as handling different groups of beloved ones with different approaches.

 

 

MY CONCLUSION

Personally, I do not agree to Zuckerberg’s “having two identities for yourself is an example of lack of integrity”. Several reasons that leads to this might be the fact that it is for personal or profession usage, or just a subset of the characteristics that make up individual’s identity. An online identity is not the same as their real-life identity because the characteristics an individual presented online may be different from the characteristics they present in the physical world. In reality, individual’s behaviour and performance is socially and culturally modelled and judged. Therefore, it is significantly important for individual to manage it wisely by creating different identities, who knows one day your boss might be googling about you and your personal life?

(435 WORDS)

 

REFERENCES:

Francisco Yus, (2011) Cyberpragmatics: Internet-mediated communication in context

Available in: https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=Jhaa9MexUjQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Cyberpragmatics:+Internet-mediated+communication+in+context&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj03czkoZbQAhWGvY8KHYokD5wQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=Cyberpragmatics%3A%20Internet-mediated%20communication%20in%20context&f=false [Accessed date: 7 Nov. 16]

David Kirkpatrick, (2011), The Facebook Effect: The Real Inside Story Of Mark Zuckerberg and the World’s fastest growing company

Available in: https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=gIgYDMd5cgkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+real+inside+story+of+Mark+Zuckerberg+and+the+World%E2%80%99s+fastest+growing+company&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjIrMGlv5bQAhVLMo8KHRgTAKcQ6AEIGTAA#v=onepage&q=The%20real%20inside%20story%20of%20Mark%20Zuckerberg%20and%20the%20World%E2%80%99s%20fastest%20growing%20company&f=false [Accessed date: 7 Nov. 16]

REFLECTION ON TOPIC 1

Prior to this topic, the term digital visitors and digital residents are foreign to me. I gained further insight into this topic through various articles reading reviews from my peers.

Through Charissa‘s blog, it allows a clear understanding on the impact of technology in the world on the changes it could bring. By citing examples from her family members around her, I could understand the vast difference between both terms as well. I agree with her quote on “Technology is changing the world so expeditiously that the ability to adapt to new digital media is a vital mechanism”.  Personally, I was more of a digital visitor as I don’t require the use of social media and I would only surf the web for research or work purposes. However, as time goes by, I would require the usage of social media to keep in touch with my friends and families. Such a personal experience would be the usage of Skype, Instagram or even Twitter as they were essential for me to communicate with my close friends who are currently overseas. As I required the service of these social media platforms, I have shifted from a digital visitor to a digital resident.

I would like to share my afterthoughts on reading Wan Ni‘s blog as well on the distinction between a digital resident and digital visitor. I agree that age and generation are not the defining factors that divides the resident and visitors. The previous generation did not grow up in such technology-based environment thus they missed the best time to learn new stuff like adapting to new technologies. Younger generation on the other hand, grew up in this technology-based century.

Ultimately, it is down to everyone on how would they choose to use the function of such technologies as well, thus I do not agree entirely that age and generation are the differentiating factors between the members of digital residents and digital visitors.

322 WORDS