Final Blog: My Online Presence

    In almost thirty years, the rise of technology related to media and communication has been impressive. The birth of the World Wide Web started with one site in 1991. Today, the number of available websites reaches over 1.74 billion with 59 percent of the global population as active users. The internet and mobile technology innovations contributed to have in 2020 about 2.95 billion people around the world using social media and yet this number is constantly growing, and an expanding amount of 4.41 billion available apps in Google Play and Apple's App Store combined, and with them, digital technology has prompted a change on norms and the way of life to billions of people.

    Actually, the technology of today is so interlocked with us as individuals and as a society that it works as part of ourselves to expand our communication capabilities and outreach potential without frontiers, bringing numerous advantages that impact our culture, lifestyle, economy, education, politics, awareness on national and world issues, personal life, and so on. However, as nothing is perfect, all these innovations also generate some disadvantages and concerns, some of them related to the way digital technology works, the information we are required to provide in order to have access to digital platforms and what these companies do with that information, and others related to our own behavior using those digital platforms.

    And how all these particularly have an effect on me? Well, I was born in an era in which everything is managed with digital technology, the internet, and social media. Generation Z is the label of my demographic group. I find it troublesome working without my computer, and impossible being without my iPhone. My brain is wired to run with today's innovations because I have been using them since I can remember. I learn with the help of internet and digital resources, I create with Adobe technology in my computer, I interact and socialize using social media, and thanks to the freedoms given to me in the First Amendment, I share pictures, stories, videos and I voice my thoughts on Twitter (950 followers), Instagram (451 followers), and Snapchat (about 185 friends from Cary schools and HPU) since 2014. Although I have a Facebook profile, I rarely post anything on it, and I have not put any effort to increase the number of contacts on that account. I habitually use FaceTime, iMessage, WhatsApp, and GroupMe, and three e-mail personal accounts mainly for instant communication with friends, family, and special groups. I heavily contribute to the 7 billion daily searches on Google when I work on assignments. I rarely purchase items online, but I donate to certain organizations that I support.

    I created a YouTube channel mostly to share projects, and the majority of my videos are usually only accessed if I provide the link (non-public). However, some videos for my Techniques in Media Production class are publicly posted on YouTube, and since they include interviews to my parents and a self-interview, people get to know about my ancestry, the place where I live, the university where I study, my pet, and our opinions and concerns on certain topics.

    If a person enters my social media profiles, it will be evident for that person that Alec Nava (my real name) is a fervent sports fan particularly of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Penguins, he is an avid runner who participated in his high school cross country and track and field teams, he likes to design graphics, he is involved in a movie project. He is a healthy person - no smoking, no vaping, no drinking, no drugs, not a party guy, no embarrassing pictures - and not involved in a romantic relationship with anybody. His extended family lives in Mexico where he regularly spends summer vacations, his paternal grandma is 100 years old. He tends to use strong language (no swear words) to express his political views which align with liberal democrats, and his posts on Twitter are not popular. His real friends like him a lot on Instagram, he is against racism and discrimination, he supports BLM, gun control, and environmental causes, and that he strongly criticizes Trump's decisions and actions in the government.

    So, every day since I was a middle school student, I have been leaving a trail of online records with every shared post, every post of personal opinion, every picture and video I upload, every "like" and comments on the posts of others, every sent message, every public figure I follow, every Google search, and GPS apps have built my online "reputation" and my online personality that may appeal to some people and displease others.

    According to a 2018 CareerBuilder survey, 70 percent of employers use social media to screen candidates during the hiring process, and about 43 percent of employers use social media to check on current employees. Today, our online presence is more exposed than ever before. Our own words and actions displayed online may have on us damaging consequences, and because what goes online stays online forever, our online behavior either current or from time ago, or any regrettable action captured and posted by other people in which we may be involved, will be there to haunt us and to surface online again at the least expected moment. So yes, I have edited and deleted some of my posts on Twitter, and I would probably edit the wording or delete other tweets, in addition to turn all my profiles private. The lesson here is to think twice, or count to one hundred before posting something when you are carried by your emotions and use social media in your own advantage.

Sources for Images

Social Media: http://umirror.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/social-media.jpg

Digital Footprint: https://action-namibia.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/digital-footprint.jpg

Sources for Statistics

• https://www.statista.com/statistics/276623/number-of-apps-available-in-leading-app-sotres/#:~:text=As%20of%20the%20first%20quarter,million%20available%20apps%20for%20iOS.
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/#:~:text=In%202019%2C%20an%20estimated%202.95,almost%203.43%20billion%20in%202023.&text=Social%20network%20penetration%20is%20constantly,2020%20stood%20at%2049%20percent.
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/#:~:text=Almost%204.57%20billion%20people%20were,percent%20of%20the%20global%20population.
• https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/
• https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/323189#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%2070%20percent%20of,to%20a%202018%20CareerBuilder%20survey.