A reflection upon my Online Identity

Introduction

Welcome everyone, especially those from the IAB260 Community. This particular blog post will take a step into my personal life and I will provide a critical reflection relating to my social media experience. The post will also look at how I use social technologies to ‘brand’ myself and the different types of activities I perform. The reflection fofowill also be based around the learning outcomes and process from designing a Persona and Identity Map.

 

At this point I’d like to clarify what a Persona is to me. It is an online identity of a individual or party (business), that presents themselves in a particular way. This usually aligns with the goals and motivation of the social technology at use, whilst allowing the user to conduct themselves in way that reflects their personality and professionalism. My online identity has been in the making since I was a young kid using the computer to play Pinball and Age of Empires. As technology advanced and new services such as MSN, Myspace, Facebook and more were introduced it became apparent that I needed to create an online identity that I believe depicted personality.

 

Professionalism

So what’s my persona? I decided to review my Facebook first because I believe it is the most used and has the most connections with family and friends. I’m not one to share a Facebook status every week, or simply upload a photo. I find that Facebook statuses have less purpose now days, due to the difference between what you upload, and what you’re trying to share with your friends. But how good is messaging friends, group chats, or just connecting with a new friend after a night out! Facebook allows me to engage with my circle of friends, like their stories/photos, comment on their milestones and say happy birthday.. But I don’t like to share much of my story (day to day, rants, photos), except for the occasional YouTube video, Work related (Supplement Store Sales) or the rare achievement:

My Facebook identity is unique and that’s why I find it hard to click the upload button and I sometimes question why I don’t post more often. Facebook is the centre for my identity and it shows who I am to not only my friends, but also my family, co-workers and future employers. The network I’ve established has created a good platform for both work and social activity which I find is my main motivation for using Facebook. The messaging, and informative content are my favourite features but the privacy, suggested newsfeed and time wasted scrolling is what makes me resent Facebook. As time moves forward I will continue to adapt my Facebook identity to represent who I am and what makes me different.

Facebook Profile

To close the chapter on Facebook.. It’s a love hate relationship. I like to separate myself from Facebook for several weeks or months when I’m not at University. I need Facebook to connect with my friends and peers, without Facebook as a medium for communication it can be very hard to organise things and actually keep track of my friends. But what makes Facebook so interesting is the option to be anything you want. By simply creating the right connections or sharing some meaningful information you have opened new doors and given yourself a way to connect with anybody in your friends list. It’s a huge service and everyone has their on way of enjoying the experience.

 

Socialist and Personal Interests

To move on, I’d like to reflect on my personal interests which are incorporated into the use of Instagram and YouTube. These two services are easily my favourites of the social technologies that I use, and I can’t remember a day where I didn’t use at least one of these applications. Instagram is a simple application, I use it to follow from my friends, artists, YouTube personalities, athletes and businesses. While I use Instagram to connect with various people, the main attraction is the photos my friends upload and also the short videos that are shared by celebrities/businesses. But what is my activity like compared to others? My expectation when using Instagram is that it allows individuals to create a network of interesting contacts whilst providing them with a platform to share their own personal stories or even brand themselves. Now, YouTube is a little bit different. When I use YouTube I am trying to learn and discover new things in relation to gym (exercises), health (diet and mental), and work (IT techniques) whilst trying to find entertainment within the context. What makes me different from everyone else on YouTube though? My subscriptions have been changing since a I was a young member, originally using YouTube to watch skate videos, game tutorials, interviews and to listen to music. As I grew and as I discovered what was interesting to me, I was able to find channels that were active and provided content relating to my interests. I have filtered my subscriptions and am constantly adding new channels. YouTube can provide me with a great tool to find and select new approaches for real world situations and that is why I love the service so much. Here’s a sample of the videos I tend to watch:

When reflecting on how I use Instagram and YouTube, I’ve come to the conclusion that I am a highly active and often spend hours weekly using these services without really contributing anything. For me to share content on YouTube I would of course have to discuss a particular/certain topic to which would require some effort, planning and work. As stated, I use YouTube for entertainment and a tool to learn, and I like being able to use it to get away from life sometimes. This is similar to Instagram, I really enjoy the service and love seeing photos/videos from the people I follow. But just like Facebook, I’m very particular about what I post and I’d rather not share all my stories. I do however enjoy sharing photos of my travels, stories, activities and the occasional captioned selfie.

 

Screenshot of one of my Instagram posts.

I guess you could say that I prefer quality of quantity on both the professional scale and also my friendly social activities. By sharing something that has meaning to me, it shows my followers that I believe what I’m sharing and I’m using it as a tool to express what I am doing, or what I have done. In my opinion there is so much information available online and it’s up to the individual to find the sources to meet their goals. My main motivation behind using social technologies to connect with individuals that will help me grow stronger (mentally and physically) and connect with old and new friends.

 

Persona

I’d like to share with you all the Persona diagram that I designed for the IAB260 Social Technologies Unit. This diagram was required for part of the assessment and will be used in an exhibit with my peers and QUT visitors. It took some time to develop this, having to make a lot of changes and updates based on feedback from my peers and friends. I was able to gather lots of interesting icons using The Noun Project, whilst editing and designing with Photoshop CS6. I believe this persona diagram accurately displays my online identity and what type of person I am when it comes to using various forms of social technologies. The design phase was great and it really made me think about the activities I was doing on each platform. As I reflected, I took the time to review my history and the style of posts I shared. I tried to apply this information to my persona and also my online identity.

Persona

Online Identity Map

As previously mentioned this diagram is also being used for assessment. This Identity Map is used to depict how I work and remain professional, whilst have fun and socialise. The scale is used to identify the actions that I believe were a large importance when using an application in each manner (Professional/Social). While each application may seemed linked, each one of these services are not linked and I have a very different personality on all of them. I used a lot of my information from my Persona to fill information about the applications and what I used it for.

Identity Map

 

Conclusion

This was a great experience and it took some time to plan, design and develop the diagrams. The benefit of making these illustrations was the opportunity to spend reflecting on self image. I enjoyed reviewing the type of posts I made and also what made them important to me when I shared them. Each application is different and I think it’s important for me to use these tools to express myself. Although I find it hard to hit that share button, it always feels good knowing that people value my opinion and what I’m saying.

 

Thanks for reading this blog post and taking the time to reflect with me.

Web 2.0 Technologies Used to Increase Productivity

Welcome to this weeks blog, and I’d also like to thank those who have commented and gave me feedback about my first post. Web 2.0 technologies when used effectively have a great lure for organisations that are trying to create a connection with their customers, or improve communications with internal employees and external suppliers/partners. But what can Web 2.0 technologies do for a student or just an everyday person? This post will discuss how Web 2.0 can help with assignments and productivity.

First Tool

One of my personal favourite Web 2.0 tools are Wikis. Wikis are used commonly to create, edit, share a web page that has text content including hyperlinks and images. A perfect example of a Wiki that has increased my productivity during semesters is Google Drive.

Nearing the end of my first two semesters I found myself having to search and gather all the files I had used over multiple devices to prepare my necessary study sheet. This changed however, when I decided to start taking my notes through Google Drive. After dotting down information in lectures and closing my laptop it was as simple as opening a web page in my phone and within seconds I am able to view the study sheet while sitting on the train heading home. This not only increased how easy it was for me to take notes and share them between devices, but I could also share them with my friends where they could also add their own content.

Second Tool

One of the biggest Web 2.0 tool that is used worldwide by billions of people is Social Networking. Social Networking allows different individuals to connect to each other very simply. Popular sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have created new opportunities for jobs, relationships and ideas to be shared. With group assignments being delegated through the semester it’s important to have communication with each of the group members. Using the Social Networking site Facebook we’re able to set up a group page that is private and allows us to communicate very easy about ideas, requirements and specifications. This Web 2.0 tool is not only useful for teams trying to communicate, but also everyday people who are posting between friends about potential weekend plans.

Finally, I’d to talk about a new experience I had with podcasting. Podcasting is similar to a series of episode regarding specific topics. While studying for another subject I was able find a series of podcasts that helped discuss and explain the information I was trying to understand. With a simple video and engaging content the filmmaker really entices the viewers to stick around and learn the content.

Web 2.0 technologies offer something for everyone and can not only help the productivity of individuals but also generate opportunities for businesses that are looking to increase there scope and scale-ability. I hope you enjoyed this post and remember to leave any feedback!