Millennials, Gen Y and Gen Z mostly buzz about the digitalization and its influence on their lives. We here words such as digital media, social media, digital wallets etc. What is this digitalisation all about? In short, digital media is a blend of technology and content used to make people’s life more engaging and purposeful. This has made an enormous impact in the way people interact with each other, use technology to make their lives easier and better.
The striking impact that digital media has is its capacity to penetrate into a large pool of audience through the internet. Now-a-days video making, blogging, writing books and selling content online has become a buzz. Youngsters who are interested in making short films are leveraging YouTube to promote their content. With e-books and e-reading gaining popularity through smart phones and Amazon Kindle, writers are giving equal importance to create and sell their books in different digital media platforms. Movies are shifting from theatre mode to NETFLIX and Amazon Prime modes. This shows the extent to which digital media is disrupting the media world.
Why should students use digital media?
The millennials, Gen Z are the major users of digital media and students of this generation are using these platforms for a wide variety of reasons. For instance, BYJU’s -The Learning App is exemplary in leveraging the digital media platform to evolve as India’s largest learning app for students. BYJU’S has revolutionized the way in which teaching is taught and students love these apps as it is convenient and easy for them to understand the complex concepts. E-learning platforms such as Coursera, edX, LinkedIn Learning, Udemy have become an integral part of students learning curriculum and this shows why students have to use digital media.
Students can not only learn quicker from these media platforms but also showcase their creativity and talent on the media platforms. Doing this gives them the courage to face the humongous digital world and voice their thoughts/ideas on different topics. Recruiters are also looking at social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook for hiring meticulous candidates and also rejecting candidates. Organisations have a unique way of doing a background check on the social profile of a candidate and students ought to be careful about their posts on social media as it can make/break their professional career.
If a student is interested in a particular career or showcasing his hobbies on social media, it gives a positive image for screening the candidate for hiring as it portrays relevant information about the student in the public arena. On the other hand ,posting hate speeches or abusing someone based on ethnicity portrays a negative image of the student. So there are pros as well as cons of these platforms and students as well as working professionals should “Look before they leap” into these platforms.
The way students can leverage digital media platforms is boundaryless. The differentiating factors that boost a student’s career through digital presence is their creativity and consistency. Regular and creative posts in their area of interest goes a long way in helping a candidate to build their digital image.
Let us talk about 4 different social platforms that I use.
LinkedIn is undoubtedly the best social media platform for students as well as professionals to showcase their creativity and interests to the largest number of professionals around the world. LinkedIn is not just a digital resume as few people might think, but leveraging LinkedIn to its fullest can land a professional into the field of his/her choice and make the dreams come true.
Pros of being active on LinkedIn
LinkedIn offers us the opportunity to network with like-minded professionals and to connect with veterans of different fields in the field of our choice. Connecting to those professionals was never so easy and LinkedIn has made the impossible thing possible by a simple click. LinkedIn also offers LinkedIn Learning where professionals can learn about a particular topic at their own convenient time. These courses are very unique as we get to know the actual industry insights as they are taught by industry stalwarts of that specific industry/domain.
LinkedIn is a doorway of a plethora of opportunities to excel in one’ career if used effectively. Networking, getting referrals, getting endorsements is a great way to boost our digital profile and can go a log way for a successful career building.
Cons of LinkedIn
As it is a professional platform, every post must be in a professional way. It is to be treated as a platform for professionals but not casual friendships.
Facebook is the most popular social media for all age groups to connect with different people across the globe. The content we post ranges from personal things to professional things. Facebook pages are a popular means of spreading awareness about an individual’s talent or an organisation’s updates as it is the largest platform that people use. FB posts generate an overview of a person’s attitude and it is vital for institutions, organizations to have an active FB page so that it generates interest for other potential candidates to know more about the institution/organization.
Facebook shouldn’t be used for spreading hatred/negativity amongst people. Digital profile matters a lot and companies have their own way of checking the content we post on Facebook. So, use FB to connect with different people and be cautious about the content you post on FB.
Instagram is a new social media platform but it is gaining immense popularity amongst the millennials and Gen Z. People post regular updates about their day to day activities and institutions /organizations use Insta to promote their digital identity.
Digital presence has become a mandatory thing now and it is amazing to see how its use is generating revenue and growth for different sections of the society.
Instagram should be used in a way to connect with people, boost the digital presence. But Insta shouldn’t be used to post political things, hate speeches etc. Technology should be a boon to us but not bane. Recent studies of Data Analytics show that Instagram and Facebook pages popularity is immense amongst the young generation.
Tweets are popular short messages to spread the word on Twitter. It is widely used for following celebrities. Tweets are used as a way to spread awareness amongst people by short tweets and hashtags. Right from the things that happen in the society to follow a particular celebrity/organization, Twitter is helping people know more about a particular issue in the shortest time possible.
Spending time following the lives of celebrities may hamper one’s productivity and creativity. Anything should be used to an extent to which is useful for us.
Conclusion
For students and professionals, I feel LinkedIn is the best way to promote their digital identity and to connect with like-minded professionals. Through LinkedIn, we can also ask veterans to mentor us in our careers. The other platforms are also equally important and we need to leverage them analysing the pros and cons of each platform.
The content we post might make/break our careers and while it is important to be digital savvy and digitally active, it is also necessary to be digitally mindful about the content we post on social media. As organisations now-a-days are very particular about Social media Background check before hiring a candidate, it becomes necessary for our digital identity not to fall in the negative screening list.
So let us be aware and leverage the digital media platforms in a way that they boost our networking skills and professional careers.
Contributed by- Manoraj Koty (One Year PGDM 2018-19)
Member of Writer’s & Media Club
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