Social Media - The Singapore Context

So in this week's readings, we get to explore a few different international perspectives on how Web 2.0 and Social Media tools had helped to shape learning in the respective societies, teaching and educational environments. To kick off this week's series of blogposts, I will first look at some of the social media statistics in the context of Singapore to provide the background for further discussion of how Singaporeans might have leveraged and utilized social media in the education settings. The following sets of infographics provides a quick snapshot of social media in the country.

As you can see, Singapore has a small population, but the number of internet users is relatively huge at about 79% of the whole country's people. Social media penetration currently stands at 3.8 Million users (69%), compared to other Asian countries at 51%. This could be strongly attributed to the high connectivity and tech-savvy population in the country.

It is pretty clear that Facebook garners the most users in the realm of social media in Singapore, and I think this is quite consistent with most countries. This is followed by Youtube (video streaming), Whatsapp (instant messaging App) and Google+ (Web 2.0 collaborative tool). Surprising, there are less people using Twitter and Pinterest, tools that could be considered extremely popular in other parts of the world.

It is also starkly clear that corporations and businesses have started to explore and leverage on social media to engage their audience/customers and sell their products. Looking at the most popular answers that they are seeking, they want to know more about tactics and tools to connect and engage their audience, as well as analytics to measure the success.

Looking at the gender demographics, there is not a lot of difference between male and female users in the three social networks; Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.

So the biggest takeaway from these statistics is that Social Media platforms are certainly flourishing and its penetration amongst the population is only going to get higher with increased connectivity and proliferation of smartphones in the country. There is also a good spread of Web 2.0 tools and social networks that the population is using. This data also shows which tools are most popular with internet users, and therefore provides business owners and educators with a clear idea of which media to utilize to engage their audiences and achieve their respective outcomes.






Source: http://www.hashmeta.com/social-media-singapore-infographic/

A Quick Recap & Reflection On This Course So Far

I think most of you can agree with me that we have definitely achieved much in the last four weeks of this course. So much so that as I recap on tools that we had been introduced to, the class activities that we had dabbled in, the interactions that we had on social media, I must say the list is pretty long! So as I rolled back the time and try to recollect how and why we had been using each of the tools for, everything seems much clearly to me now.

In week 1, we started our individual blogs and began our blogging journey. We jumped onto Twitter and tweeted our lives away. We explored networks and communities, and how they can work for us. Essentially, we learned how to share resources via such blogging and online/social bookmarking platforms, and important piece of how we engage with one another in the online environment.

In week 2, we explored tools such as LinkedIn, Instagram and Snapchat in relation to PLNs. We dived into communities to observe how they function and understand norms associated with each of them. Essentially, we learned how social networking can expand one’s resources to attain specific knowledge or information.

In week 3, we tried Pinterest, Flickr, Reddit, Diigo and other tools to discover more resources, and in the process understood how their utilities can support us to promote or search for expertise knowledge. Essentially, we learned how social bookmarking/tagging is fundamental to how these tools function and operate. We also engaged one another on IP issues on the social media, and how to tackle them.

And this week, we started with Wikis and Google Maps, and in the process learned how the creation of online workspaces could promote and facilitate collaborative activities within the class. This has also nicely provided the backdrop for us to think deeper about instructional design for social media.

So how do we approach instructional design for social media?

From our collective experiences, I can say that it is indeed undeniable that social media has kept us highly engaged and intellectually challenged. It is a unique process where we explored and discovered new territories. It is experiential learning in practice. While we enjoy the activities and the process of learning, we also have to reflect upon our learning experiences and evaluate our growth. Using this course as an example, the graded assignments and projects provided a good avenue for that formal assessment piece. In other words, when designing instruction for social media, one must not be distracted by merely focusing on the learning activities, but the emphasis must also be placed on the learning outcomes.   

Hi Guys!

Just a shout out to you guys to visit my specially curated Pinterest Board comprising of essential Marathon training tips, ranging from 

easy-to-follow training programs, 

best food for runners, 

stretching & strengthening exercises,

running techniques, 

& many more!

Click on the Pinterest button on the right navigation bar now to go to my Board!  

or Click on this link below:

https://www.pinterest.com/sinnedor2016/marathon-preparation-for-beginners/

The Rise of Temporary & Anonymous Apps - A Worrying Reality?

Today, I read this very interesting article on @SocialMediaToday that highlights the issues surrounding teenagers and social media, particularly on the appeal of temporary and anonymous Apps. Current trending social media networks and tools that fall into this category include SnapChat, Kik, Line, WhatsApp, Omegle, and many more, which I believe most of us would not even have heard of. So why exactly are these Apps so popular with teenagers?

The writer points out that the main reason for such behavior is that teenagers in these days are placing a much higher premium on their privacy, preferring to keep their social media interactions within their inner circles and cliques, and further away from their parents. (Just like how teenagers value their personal spaces, but in the online environment) Hence, such Apps clearly allow them to do so.

Personally, I feel that the appeal of such Apps could also be strongly attributed to their anonymity-nature, as teenagers could enjoy the thrill of posting stuff that they would not normally share, and communicating in a manner which they would not dare to do so in the physical world. This provides the freedom for them to act, behavior and explore many things without any consequences.

Of course, the biggest problem of this is that such Apps could also provide an unchecked, and therefore ideal environment for predators to lurk on such platforms where they can easily exploit the naivety of teenagers. So it is important that parents take actions and educate their children on the effects of such tools. Below is a very useful infographic put together by Rawhide.Org on the facts of the matter, and ways to tackle the issues.    



Source: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/temporary-and-anonymous-apps-whats-teen-appeal-infographic

Google Maps - A Simple & Effective Tool for Collaborative Work

From the list of suggested tools this week, Google Maps has proved to be one of the more interesting and easy-to-use tools that I had ever tried my hands at. I think we are all pretty familiar with using Google Maps for checking directions, as well as mapping out the routes to reach our destinations. However, we had the chance to try something different this time round. In responding to Vanessa's challenge, we learned how to collaboratively build a map with a collection of annotations and descriptions of places we had visited for vacation. Some thoughts that I would like to share in relation to this particular experience are:

1. This collaborative activity might look simple, but it was extremely effective in allowing us to build a learning community for the class. As each of us contributed our portions, we each bring a different story, a different experience to the table, and we ALL learn from these diverse perspectives.

2. This exercise did not just allow me to learn more about my classmates, but also myself. By framing and drafting my contributions, I started to ask tough question about my own work, what is appropriate and whether the information is accurate to be shared with my classmates. To stretch it further, there is seemingly an inherent self-critique element in this nature of collaborative exercises.

3. As I read others' contributions, I tend have questions in my mind that I would like to explore further. Hence, from the instructional perspective, such collaborative activities definitely have the potential for peer-instruction to take place, if we are allowed to start asking questions and interacting with one another on the subjects. As "content-creators", using Google Maps in this manner can certainly encourage students to learn from each other.

4. We all read, contribute and learn at different pace. This collaborative activity precisely facilitates that. For example, when I logged in, there has been many of my classmates who had contributed their portions. As I read, I decide what to contribute, when to contribute, at my own pace. This certainly gives students the flexibility and convenience for learning, improving not just time efficiency, but also time management.

As a tryout, I also created my own map with pins of countries and cities that I had visited in my lifetime, with a short annotation for each place. I have also posted the link before, if you are interested!

Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1il34FCjjfSWC9U79bNplrEvFVgg&usp=sharing


If you share similar perspectives on Google Maps, or have other ideas about this tool, leave a comment and we can discuss about it!

Taking a Chill Pill For Your Social Media Fatigue

So Vanessa wrote an open letter to us last week, warning us about social media fatigue and urged us to disconnect for while whenever possible. I could not agree more on the timely manner of the message considering that we had all been pretty much intensely immersed in social media and other related tools for the past three weeks of this course.

Being a good student, I took the advice and it seems to work wonders! I now feel more energetic and ready to roll for the final part of this course. Along the process, I also read some articles on how people cope with such fatigue. One such article (refer to source below) asked a crucial question if social media fatigue is really about fatigue, or should we start referring to it as social media fear or disappointment. This is rather interesting as we all have FOMO (Fear of missing out) moments in our lives, and some of us unintentionally extend that fear to the social media platform. Therefore, the idea that social media does not cause fatigue, but an emotional reaction about fear and disappointment, might actually hold some truth. So from this perspective, I will like to share 5 quick tips on how we can deal with it:

1) Be reasonable with our own expectations - There are just too may tools for us to explore, too many interesting articles to read, too many exciting and fun stuff to do in this course, BUT TOO LITTLE TIME TO DO ALL. Hence, be very clear on how much time we have to do the necessary work each week; manage that expectation, then pick and choose on what you can do.

2) Plan, plan, plan - From my own experience in the last three weeks, planning really helps! You do not need to feel "forced" to be social media every single day. Plan for it, follow the schedule, log in, post the work, log off, and you are done!

3) Track, track, track - Track what you have done for the week! All of us feel compelled to keep plugging at social media and the tools because we are unclear of how much we had done, hence the anxiety arrives at the end of the week which inadvertently forces us to overwork. Vanessa's weekly checklist is a great tool to begin with! Or less formulate your own preferred one each week.

4) Don't compete with others - There is always that classmate who has more time (hence more presence online) than others! So do not feel pressurized to post more than you can manage, but rather post within your means (time!) and of course also when the inspiration comes. Understand your own value and contributions that you bring to the class, and you will feel less stressed about it.

5) Explore beyond the list - The list of tools given to us for tryout may be pretty long each week, but there is nothing to stop us from exploring outside this list if we want to. Take a different approach by trying out a different tool that no one has heard before, blog about it, share it with the class, and you will feel a lot more energized just be doing that!





Source: http://outspokenmedia.com/social-media/the-secret-to-social-media-fatigue/

Pinterest FTW! Visit My Collection To See Why!

Hi guys! Welcome back to my blog again! In my final post for the week, I am going to share with you my small curated collection of useful resources that you can utilize to prepare for a marathon race. I am an avid runner, and am currently training for my first ever marathon. Yes! Does that sound exciting to you? Or scary at the thought of running a marathon? The task is certainly daunting, considering that the longest distance I had ever covered was the half-marathon. Hence, the preparation phase is extremely important, and we can definitely make use of the extensive lists of online resources to help us get in shape, and complete a marathon with success!

Well, with this in mind, I am here to help you achieve your goals, especially if you are a beginner and aspire to run a marathon in the near future. For this purpose, I will be sharing the resources via Pinterest, and the link to my Resource Board is:

https://www.pinterest.com/sinnedor2016/marathon-preparation-for-beginners/

Alternatively you can also search and access it via my profile, available on our course EME6414 Board in Pinterest.

For a start, I had pinned a few very basic resources that you can read, follow and begin with: training plans, essential stretches, meal plans, and some essential tips to take note of. These should really get you started on it, and I will also be updating the Board with more essential resources as the days go by.

So if you are training for a marathon as well, I hope these resources will be useful for your endeavor.

If you are a runner but has not decided if you want to run a marathon, I hope this collection can motivate you to do so.

If you are not a runner, I really hope this can inspire you enough to give it a try in future!

So I do hope you can take a look at my Board, ask questions or leave a comment for me! Much appreciated!