CHAPTER 6: Maximizing the Use of Social Media and Electronic

Communication in the 21st century

Chapter Objectives

1. Explicate the nuts and bolts of how to get the most out of social media.
2. Reflect on their usage of social media apps and sites.
3. Recognize the social media platforms by identifying them according to their
logos.
4. Customize their own social media profile.
5. Understand social media’s role in technical writing.
6. Analyze and criticize technical documents.
7. Create own credible content to be published online.
8. Secure their own cyberspace by following the safety precautionary measures.
9. Enumerate internet problems and propose solutions.
10. Produce an advocacy campaign on safety and security against cybercrime.

Introduction

We have learned from the previous chapter that visual rhetoric plays an
important role in communicating and developing consciousness between ourselves and
our environment, knowing that these images surround us whether we are at home, at
work, on the railway, in malls, in restaurants and coffee shops, or mostly, in the virtual
world. Thus, earthlings’ life opportunities are no longer limited in this hasty advancing
world. This is why majority of the people say that they cannot live without their gadgets
and other electronic devices since these are their media connecting to the world through
virtually yet for many, more ideal and viable.

This chapter helps the netizens to maximize their involvement and possibilities of
treating social media and electronic communication in a more constructive way.

Social media and electronic communication in the 21 st century are the most
progressing fields used to connect, communicate, and network with others. Although,
majority of their platforms are merely used to be in contact with friends and family, they
have also recently been used by small and big companies to connect more directly with
prospect clients. They use social media platforms as their way to advertise and send
their messages out regarding their recent activities in just one click. Despite their
irrefutable credence, still, majority of the people feel incompetent in making the most out
of being a tech savvy. Now, let us learn how.

LESSON 1 - Embracing New Means of Communication

“The bigger mistake is believing there is one right way to listen, to talk, to have a conversation –
or a friendship.”

- Deborah Tannen

Discussion

Consumed by too many advanced technologies around us, we often think of

communicating to others using them without even thinking of exerting at least a little
effort to see someone, listen to one’s stories, sell products personally to customers,
resolve conflicts in an organization face-to-face in a meeting, sit in a conference hall,
pursue graduate studies in the mainstream, browse hard copies of magazines, books,
and newspapers, or simply be available for people. But let us make things clear, this
chapter will not debunk the positive notions and vast possibilities of accepting and
understanding the role of modern communication in our studies, workplace, business,
and other aspects of our lives.

This lesson is not generalizing that all communications are now done virtually,
yet, as people become advanced thinkers, modern technology always results to
negative effects as it deteriorates relationships due to lack of physical interaction.

However, we will still take a look on that as we need to be just and fair in
welcoming its pros and cons, but of course, mostly pros.
History of Social Media and Electronic Communication

Looking back at the history of communication, way back 550 BC, written
correspondence or letters delivered by hand from one person to another was the
earliest mode of communication over long distances. The earliest postal system was
created in 550 BC in Ancient Persia where the Persian King, Cyrus The Great,
mandated that every province in his kingdom would organize the delivery of postal to all
of its residents. Many other postal systems were introduced in many other countries
ensuing the Persian system. But then, Rome established the first well-documented
postal service. During the time of Augustus Ceasar, mails were delivered by light
carriages pulled by horses. This service was created for government communications
and only later that other services for citizens were added. Over many centuries, postal
delivery systems became widely used and organized.

Up to late 1830s and 1840s, single-wire telegraphy system was invented that
was based on European telegraphs. The first telegram was sent by Samuel Finley
Breese Morse who was also a co-developer of the Morse Code. This method allowed
messages to be delivered faster than postal system. However, the messages in
telegrams must be kept short yet was considered the fastest way and most essential
advancement of communication technology before. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone which allows people to communicate to others instantly over
long distances.

20th century came and technology began to advance rapidly. The first super
computers were invented in the 1940s when engineers started to create networks
between computers, J.C.R Licklider (1960) described this network of computers
connected to one another by wide-band communication lines provided the functions of
today’s libraries together with expected advances in information storage and retrieval
and other symbiotic functions or what we call now, the internet. The first network link
was established in 1969 from four networked base computers called ARPANET,
followed by other networks, such as USENET that allowed users to communicate
virtually. In 1978, the first e-mail was developed for users to receive messages and text
instantly. The distinction between telephones and e-mails is for telephone to work, both
users have to be available at the same time, while in e-mails, the sender may simply
send his messages then be read by the receiver whenever and wherever he is available
and have access to the Internet. The Internet system occurred in the late 1970s whose
primary purpose was to connect and merge all of the several networks that have been
created. The first personal computer appeared in 1976 which is called the Apple I, then
continue develop in 1981 with the IBM personal computer. In the late 1980s, the first
Internet service provider companies were created and the first Internet was unlocked for
non-government use like America Online. In 1989, World Wide Web was the first web
browser developed by Tim Burners Lee.

Before social media came into place, the Internet was mainly used for e-mails, e-
commerce, online forms, and personal websites. In 1997, the first social media platform
was six degrees. Like our Friendster then, and Facebook now, it allowed users to create
their own profile and invite friends. In 1999, blogging began to be popular. The first blog
websites were Open Diary and Life Journal where users can post or blog about their
personal lives for public viewing like the Tumblr, Blogger, WordPress, and Blogspot
websites now. After the blogging has been introduced, social media platform began to
flourish such as MySpace, LinkedIn, and Flickr became popular in early 2000s. In 2004,
the domain Facebook.com was registered by Mark Zuckerberg which is now widely
used in social media platform today and became open to the public in 2006. Now, as we
go with the flow of the social media advancements. Many other platforms continue to
thrive such as Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Youtube, Twitter, and many others.

Whatever platform you are using, the main purpose of social media is to connect
to family, friends, and even to strangers through sharing photos, videos, news, opinions,
or simply sending a quick message to anyone in the world.
Why Use Social Media

Below are common reasons why you should start using social media:

 To communicate and be updated with family, friends, and famous people

around the globe
 To learn from others and engage in conversation about current news and
issues
 To befriend strangers and be involved in groups with similar interests
 To be employed in a desired job
 To sell and buy products or services
 To share one’s life including photos, videos, and other life’s important events
 To be heard and be known in a field
 To express oneself and influence people based on your own beliefs

How to Get the Most Out of Social Media

Naturally, people all over the globe tend to make impressions on you based on
what they can see first in your profile. Whether you are a student, an employee, a
business person, or whatever your position is in life right now, social media profile
serves as a window for others to see your life even if you are not aware of it. There is
the one video experiment that was posted online where one group of people installed
this big white tent while other members started to invite passerby to come inside the
tent to be asked questions where majority were personal questions. Invited people
started to feel uncomfortable and surprised during the interrogation when all of the
questions and judgments about them were proven true by themselves. Only to find out
when the big white curtain inside the tent was removed, the other members of the group
were in front of their computers searching and browsing in real time these facts and
issues including past relationships that the users posted on their Facebook account
which available to the public. So, whether that impression is true or not, it would be too
late for you to justify because it is what you presented to the public.
 With this, personal banding is very important. Personal branding is how one
presents himself online so others can see him. Despite the “self-love” advocacy of many
women today, netizens are still very conscious about how they look on their social
media accounts. Same as the product branding, your well-known brands such as Nike,
Zara, Mac Cosmetics, Coach, even your favorite hair salon have logo, vision, and
mission for people to know what to expect from them and how these might affect their
purchasing decision. To maintain and establish their marketing, they monitor all positive
and negative incoming comments and feedback about their brands. Therefore, the
company needs to address each to continue its harmonious relationships with its
clients.

In an article published in Business World last October 17, 2017, a study was
conducted by Kantar TNS’s 2017 Connected Life surveyed 70,000 people in 56
countries and the conduct of 104 interviews showed that some 59% of online
consumers in the country see content in their social media feed as reliable which was
higher than the global trust of 35%. Also, Digital Director of Kantar TNS Philippines,
Nicco de Jesus said that Filipino netizens are very open to interaction online specifically
on social media platforms. He added that they were really glad to trust the content they
read online, making the Philippines one of the most trusting countries in the region next
to Indonesia. This research proves that people, particularly the Filipinos, have high
confidence on the messages that these brands post online that also make them share
their personal information to these companies.

Going back to your personal brand, whether you are a celebrity or not, you may
consider the following steps to start creating your personal brand:

1. Spend time establishing your true self in your mind. (How do you want others to
see and define you based on who you really are not based on who you are not?)

2. Start de-cluttering your profile information and post from the time you started
using it. (Be mindful that whenever you apply for a job, employers highly consider
your social media accounts, particularly your Facebook account, as one of your
 character references. And even if you are already employed, your fellow workers
especially the top management may misunderstand your sentiments or rants
online. Also, start customizing your privacy settings whether you like you post to
be in public, friends, only me, or friends of friends setting.

3. Identify your personal brand using a combination of your values, skills, goals,
personality, how you look what you say and do, and how you look out for others.
(Thomas, 2013). These include your photos, email address, status, comments,
and even reactions (emojis).

4. After pondering on your self-definition or personal brand, start living your brand
both online and offline. (In order to maintain quality relationships with others, they
should see you as the same person in the virtual and physical world.)

Classifications of Social Media

Taprial & Kanwar (2012) classified types or forms of social media that exist on
the Internet into Magazines, Internet Forums, Web blogs, Social Blogs, Microblogging,
Wikis, Podcasts, Videos, Rating and Social Bookmarking. While Blue Sail (2010)
termed these as social media tools namely Social Networks, Blogs, Microblogging,
Podcasts, Forums, Content Communities, and Wikis.

Whereas, based on Kaplan and Haenlein’s media research published in

Business Horizons (2010), there are six (6) different types of social media namely:

1. Collaborative projects (e.g. Wikipedia)

2. Blogs and Microblogs (e.g. Twitter)
3. Content Communities (e.g. YouTube)
4. Social Networking Sites (e.g. Facebook)
5. Virtual Game Worlds (e.g. World of Warcraft)
6. Virtual Social Worlds (e.g. Second Life)
 You might identify all these as simply social networking sites since all of these
social media platforms allow and encourage interactions among the users. We cannot
deny that the breadth of social media is too immense that it encompasses all sorts of
fields in life so it is a challenge for the experts to lay down the condensed nature of it.
Since many business entities continue to invest in social media to support their vision,
mission, and other functions, it is imperative for others to understand the reality and
benefits of it in order for them to succeed in their chosen path.

Content Worth Sharing

Content sharing is seen as the core of all social media platforms. Each website
has its own content to share. Content varies from news articles, videos, photos, music,
e-books, business, presentations, research journals, and other kinds of multimedia
materials that are made available at a low or no cost to the clients either to make money
or simply share for the sake of attending to people’s needs. Yet, this is perceived
differently in the business world, mostly to achieve the farmer. Not all media sharing
services online exist as the main source of media. This is to say that one website uses
the other to achieve his goals virtually. For instance, if you are a blogger in Tumblr.com,
you may be great at writing your blog entries, but you are not knowledgeable in
customizing your profile themes. You may simply download and copy HTML template
and easily apply it to your account. Though majority of the primary source of this kind of
services leave watermark or any identification of the software developer to make sure
they receive credits or are recognized whenever used for personal purposes. Other
websites or social publishing type content sharing, for example, a free e-Book and
audiobook downloader site like Scribd.com, ask the visitor to create an account first
before getting access to their selected free e-books and others which are not for free.
This is why whenever we sign up for an account, we are provided the Terms of Service
(also known as terms of use and terms and conditions) which is often neglected by the
users, instead we simply tick the box as if we finish examining it.
 The following are the “16+ Must Know Content Sharing Platforms” for specific
media according to Oliveria (2017), Research SEO contributor of eminds.com:

 Facebook – allows sharing of various types of content form text to videos and is
ideal for connecting directly with clients
 LinkedIn – allows users to publish blogs and share their expertise about topics
such as leadership, innovation, economics, and many others
 Twitter – allows users to communicate online with 140-cahracter limit which
plans to increase up to 280 which is best for quick updates
 Google+ - allows users’ contents get indexed instantly by Google though
became underused with a dense number of around 400 million active users
 Triberr –works by matching content creators into “tribes” that refer them to the
audience and includes paid options to boost one’s content as a social network
and marketing automation tool
 StumbleUpon – provides recommendations to users by randomizing one’s
content to reach wide range of audience
 YouTube and Vimeo – allow users to share visual or video content
 Instagram – allows users to share photos which are strongly related to lifestyle
and consumerism with its new features of video, story, and ad sharing.
 Pinterest – allows users to sell visually engaging products where posts are
pinned into various topics to easily organize and direct content
 Tumblr – allows the user to connect to his community through blogging via text,
photo, quote, link, chat, audio, and video with over 370 million short-form blogs
and has promising multimedia features
 Snapchat – allows users of the new generation users below age 34 to get closer
to other users through one-on-one channel, and creates applicable image
features and filters.
 Medium – allows bloggers to post contents that vary from politics to cooking and
a safe platform to post about research, reflections, and opinions with personal
voice
  Slideshare – allows users to share, upload, and download online PowerPoint
and PDF presentations that was bought by LinkedIn in 2002 because of its large
and active community
 Visual.ly – allows embedding for social media created for infographics and
general visual content
 Reddit – gives the users the best of the internet in one place such as an
updating feed of breaking news, funs stories, photos, memes, videos, and more
 Quora – helps users share and gain knowledge by asking and answering
questions
 Cheat Sheet – gives the users a list of all active short cuts of the current
application
 Buzzfeed – a PR service website that shares news
 Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Entrepreneur, FastCompany – allows
users who are industry leaders to submit their content
 Mashable, TechCrunch – created for inside and sponsored content
 New York Times, Huffington Post – crafted for users’ opinions

Another form to share content through filter and recommendation is what is

widely known as “hashtag/s” using the symbol “#” followed by words or phrases without
space or any punctuation in between to locate relevant discussions about a certain
topic. This tag is very useful now to people who wanted to locate a chain of posts even
without finding one post in one’s entirely different feed. This is commonly available on
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and even online research journals. This also
identifies the most “talk of the town” topics or what the social media termed as “viral or
trendy”.
The Apps and Social Networking Sites

One of the most updated and brilliant inventions of Web 2.0 is the increasing
number of apps being visited, uploaded by developers, and downloaded by millions of
users. These are called web or mobile applications that are beneficial for all kinds of
people whether they will use the apps for personal productivity, school, business,
leisure, or any other sorts or human activity. These apps are available for Apple users
through App Store and for Android Users through Google Play Store, while for web
apps or social networking sites, they are readily available online. The obvious limitations
would be some apps are not for free so you have to purchase them for a reasonable
price while other apps are free to download but once you have them installed in your
mobile device, you need to purchase their premium services to continue using and
maximizing their best features.

Social media sites have also grown in unfathomable number. Based on the
report of Statista, statistics showed that around 2 billion users used social networking
sites and apps in 2015 and due to the highest need and rampant demand for mobile
device use, this figure is possible to reach the 2.6 billion mark by 2018. Thus, you might
want to start or should I say continue exploring the social media world and find some
really practical and productive social platforms where you will say you cannot live
without.

Below is a figure of names and icons of “60+ Social Networking Sites You Need
to Know About in 2018” posted in Blog Traffic Social by Jaime Spencer on
makeawebsitehub.com updated last June 1, 2018:
Image Sharing

One major reason people purchase high-end smartphones is to have a quality

photo. Most of the newly released phone gadgets today such as Samsung Galaxy A7,
S9, S9+, Huawei P20 Pro, iPhone Xs, X Max, and X r, are competing about the
advancement of their camera features. They realize that people all over the world look
at this feature more prominently than other features only for one reason and this is not
just to capture eye-titillating photos of any subject but to share them to public. This
includes sharing them with their family and friends on Facebook, Instagram, etc. with
restrictions of customizing its privacy settings. Personally, people want to share places
they have been to and food they have tried while professionally, this is being done by
someone to promote one’s business.

The following are some of the suggested free image hosting sites:

 Google photos – aside from image sharing, this mobile app also helps the user to
back up all his photos to save storage which is also great for auto-enhancement.
 Dropbox – this software offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud,
and client software.
 Flickr – this site offers 1TB of storage for free that can store up to 2 million
photos including high-definition videos maintaining the resolution.
 Zenfolio – this is a site that is ideal for professionals having homepage layouts
showing off one’s best images and videos, and a blog to upload them.
 500px – this is a site that has sleek design that allows the users to publish only
highly edited landscape and portrait photos in grid form.
 Facebook – being the most famous social media networking site/app with
2,230,000,000 (as of August 2018), this site also offers a wide audience to view
one’s shared image with privacy settings and suggested filters.
 Instagram – this is an app which is great for social sharing. It also updated its
features to better promote one’s profile/feed for personal and business use
including highlights, maximum of 10 selected photos and videos to be included in
one upload, live video and IGTV, daily stories good for 24 hours, direct message,
saved posts, nametag, and account for business use.
For further reading, refers to : (1) Later & HubSpot (2018). Instagram for Business in
2018. Retrieved from https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/53/Instagram_for_business_
in_2018_HubSpot_Later-1.pdf and (2) Chacon, B. (2017). Instagram Ads: A Step-by-
Step Guide to Running Your Own Ad Campaign. Retrieved from
https://later.com/blog/instagram-ads/.

Mobile Devices as One’s Total Life Package

One’s mobile device is a small handy tool that allows the user to instantly
navigate any area of his needs, access the Internet constantly, and connect with other
users. Some examples of this are iPads, smartphones, and tablets. To date, we can no
longer predict until when innovations and capabilities of mobile devices will end, if there
is such a thing.

Even without Internet connection, mobile device users have this total life package
that can gratify their personal and worldly desires. Some of these hundred things one
can do even without Internet/data connection are simply messaging or calling someone
if you have load, listening to download music, sharing any kind of file using SHAREit,
Airdrop, or Bluetooth, computing expenses using calculator, reading download e-Books
in iBooks and iCloud or Google Drive, setting alarm, stopwatch, timer, even bedtime
schedule, recording audio, looking for words’ meanings in dictionary app, keeping track
of what to do first using Reminders, Notes, Evernote and ScreenMemo aps, keeping
track of your calorie intake and other health records, saving all your appointments in
Calendar app instead of carrying a planner all year round, and many others.

But still, many people will say that they “can’t live without Wifi/Internet” because
through this connection, they can reach other people from sending e-mails, waving at
someone and leaving personal message on Messenger, downloading devotional plans,
watching YouTube videos, downloading and listening to any genre and updated playlist
on Spotify, browsing, adding products to cart, and selling them in Lazada, Shopee,
OLX, Carousel, and Zalora, managing business on Facebook, Instagram, and other
websites, messaging someone via iMessage if you do not have load, scanning codes to
keep boarding passes, movie tickets, retail coupons, and rewards in one place using
Wallet app, buying load and paying bills using Coins.ph, booking your transportation
and travel tours using Grab app and Traveloka or Klook, receiving something you forget
via Angkas or Lalamove app, to lulling yourself to sleep and relaxation using the Calm
app.

Social media through various electronic tools has indeed transform the way
people live and internet with others. Its users find freedom and outlet to share and post
any form of media they want the world to see and experience. It also works in
uncontainable manner starting from the limitations of only having ideas in minds of
people in an organization to various forms of channels that can reach millions of
audiences. It has always been encouraging people to partake knowledge, critically
analyze information, and become content producers and developers rather than being a
normal consumer.
LESSON 2 - Social Media and Technical Documentation

“But on the web, something new is emerging: communication that has the individuality and
personal touch of a conversation, but the persistence and public availability of a publication”

Mark Baker

Discussion

In Lesson 1 we have understood the powerful impact social media has brought to
people’s lives. After highlighting the personal opportunities and responsibilities a user
gets, let us take a look at why this Chapter becomes an integral part of this
comprehensive book on Technical Writing.

Social Media Platforms and How You Can Use Them in Technical Writing

Majority of the people in the planet of this modern generation work with and for
social media. They belong to this digital community with worldwide access to the
internet where they found a living. The following figures show the social media
demographics on 2018 Social Audience Guide made by Spredfast that will help you
realize the need for writing and producing content in this well-known social networking
sites and other technical writing jobs.

To be able to thrive as a beginner content producer, here are some points that
you must enliven first, in no particular order:

 Engage in meaningful and active communities that talk about concepts where
you are good and interested at.
 Know that your purpose is to establish rapport and create discussions so be
persistent.
 Take things and process one at a time. Remember that it takes one, his
friends, and your account in an established website to discover your skills and
content.
  Focus on one concept or with subcategories that reflect who you really are
and expose the things you really love.
 Conduct your research and further readings before being involved.
 Be direct with all your transactions, bookings, investments, and
collaborations.
 Get ready to refer one to another. Helping others build and enhance their own
web content will help you eventually.
 Expect to fail, learn, change, improve, and prosper.

Now, if you are ready to dwell on a life of a technical writer, let us learn first from
a testimony and journey of Amanda Layman Low, a contributor in Mediabistro.com on
how she became a technical writer.

“Before I got my feet wet as a technical writer, I thought the field was about
drawing up instruction manuals or legal documents. Maybe at a higher level
some of these people got to write NASA reports or top-secret government stuff,
but the options for technical writing for someone like me were probably limited to
explaining how to put together a cabinet or work a coffee machine. Despite what
I thought was a complete lack of technical knowledge. I landed a contract job
writing eLearning course material that teaches sales representatives how to sell
software. Weird, right? The gist was this: I would read through a bunch of source
documents, try to make sense of the information and structure it into four lessons
based on an outline provided to me.

But let me go back. When applying for the job, I was asked to complete a “writing
assessment” that all contractors are required to take to determine their skill level.
I almost gave up before even starting. When I read the instructions, I didn’t
understand half the words onscreen, let alone what I was supposed to do with
them. So, I just did my own thing; I wrote a marketing blurb about the company,
based on its website content and whatever else I could find online. My hope was
to show them I could at least do research and put words into grammatically
acceptable sentences.
 I guess it was good enough. A few days later I was given an assignment for
which I would be paid more money than I’d earned in the last six months. Then
one day, I saw a job posting that told me that the company was looking for a full-
time writer, I jumped at the opportunity and got the job. That first project was
hard. I cleared out my schedule and locked myself in my office for an entire
weekend. When I finally finished it, I got paid promptly. And I was asked to do
another project. But the more I familiarized myself with the industry jargon, the
more this type of writing started to feel natural. And although I still have plenty to
learn, I’m now twice as fast at completing an assignment than I was when I
started. And new types of projects became open to me such as editing a
PowerPoint presentation, writing catchy marketing copy and performing quality
assurance on a completed course”

There are four important things we can learn from her experience.

1. You will never go out of job. Whatever is your field right now, there will always
be that destined work for you especially if you wish to be a technical writer online,
small to big companies will always be in need of people to write for them whether
to simply write a business letter, design a terms of service manual, or even write
a resume for a job applicant.

2. You start being raw, turned into a well-polished diamond. Always seek to
learn. Even if you were born as a grammar Nazi, there will always be a room for
improvement. Never stop learning, love it instead. You can always ask someone
to help and train you. Your evaluated experience will be your best teacher. Do
not stop yet, unless you have started and you are far away from it.

3. Be direct in writing. Even though some technical writing assignments require

you to be creative, it is still far from a creative short story you wrote when you
were a kid. Still majority need precise and on point ideas and instructions. Be
 systematic. Set your goals and expectations. And remember to always submit
before the deadline, do not wait for it to meet you.

4. It can sustain you and your future family. There is sure money in this line of
work. According to Ms. Layman, the payment in this industry ranges from $30 to
$50per hour, making $50,000 to $70,000 per year. For part-timers or freelancers,
payment may be project-based than hourly. Based on her experience for this
type, it ranged her between $400 and $2,500 per project.

Her story was so inspiring that we can no longer wait for tomorrow to apply for a
technical writing job. Though, technical writing is also not easy as other white or
blue-collar jobs since you need to press hard and strain your brain cells with all your
English writing and research skills, but it only takes a little effort to start and 100%
dedication to try writing and make a living.

Are you ready to start exploring the field of technical writing online? You may
simply search on Google technical writing and instructional design jobs and
thousands of suggestions will be presented to you. Note that technical writing and
instructional designing are two complementary terms and skills as differentiated by
Anderson (2014).

Technical Writing – deals with writing manuals to promote and support

hardware and software that include writing user, operation, or maintenance
documentation for equipment, products, or services, formal documents of
standard operating procedures (SOPs), or citations of libraries for software;
engages writers with hardware/software developers and engineers to document
vital data about the system and or products.

Instructional designing –concentrates on determining goal objectives and

performances, knowledge and skills breaches, professional and educational
training and content objectives, designing instructional strategies, media and
training delivery approaches and methodologies, and writing assessment and
evaluation to gauge learning and competencies.
 Whether you would want to be a technical writer or an instructional designer, one
thing is for certain, you can learn anything as long as you devote your time and heart on
things that really matter. If you live in the Philippines and you like to work in an office or
even from home, you may check out Jobstreet.com and Indeed.com.

Job vacancies vary from:

 Instructional Writer/Designer, Technical Copy Writer, Technical Content

Writer, Education Content Specialist, Researcher, Marketing Content
Writer, Size Set Maker, Audit Writer & Document Controller, Software
Quality Assurance test Script Writer, Digital Content Writer, Senior
Medical Writer, Technical Marketing Editor, Technical Writer for Business
Management, Accounting, Tourism, ICT, E-commerce Content Producer,
SEO Specialist, and many others.

You may also want to have foreigner clients and earn reasonable and verified salary.
Visit upwork.com.

Jobs vary from:

 Personable Tech Resume Writer, Content Creator for Blog Post, Portrait
Photography Researcher & Webpage Writer, Newspaper Article
Translator, Business Letter Writer to Magazine Advertisers, Freelance
Writers for Tech Companies Using Blockchain, Editor/Proofreader of
eBook Content, Profile Consultant, French Writer, Yoga Article Writer,
Computer Science Content Writer, Language Reviewer for a Word Report,
Trendy Topics Content Creator, article Researcher and Creative Writer,
Real Estate Assignment Writer and many others.
 There is so much in store in the Internet for technical communication. Traditional
writers see new opportunities to publish their own content or serve others through social
media. There is literally no limit to spreading one’s horizon in building and sharing
intellectual gifts and skills because technical communicators can grasp this wider and
boundless online community.

Challenges and Opportunities

Laying down a good façade of technical communication, there will always be

challenges despite the opportunities that await you as a technical communicator. It is
not simply about writing since it covers multifaceted expertise and fields. You are well
oriented that when you write, you probably and mostly deal with text. Going back to
visual rhetoric lesson in Chapter 5, users and audiences demand for simplified and
concise presentations such as photos and videos, though content producers and editors
of these media platforms are considered technical communicators as they enhance
product, system, and training course materials. But of continue to market for texts and
printed materials (considering PDF format) that co-exist with multimedia services.

The following are some obvious challenges and opportunities of a technical

communicator. He/she should:

1. Identify consumer’s documentation or product needs;

2. Connect and collaborate with users who can help to produce noteworthy content;
3. Design product the way consumer would want it to be without compromising
credibility and creativity;
4. Be open to questions and feedback as he/she enables discussions with users;
5. Manipulate and discover new technologies at home or aim to learn something
new in school to solve consumer problems;
6. Avoid killing time on reviewing the tools used for a website, rather spend it wisely
by maximizing his/her presence online during work;
7. See online platform as an opportunity to learn and practice socialization skills.
Usually people write for other to write as well;
 8. Consider free documentation, Oram (2007) as cited in Gentle’s book,
Conversation and Community (2012), he reported reasons people write free
documentation. The following are some of the surprising findings:
 Majority of the people do not realize that they were contributing.
 They do not consider themselves as writers even though their shared
contents are in written form.

These people’s contents are considered “free” because these writers were
not paid for their contributions especially in open source sites. However, the
compensation they get is some forms of acknowledgement and recognition that
were termed as contribution motivations by Peter Kollock (2008) in his work
titled, “The Economics of Online Collaboration Gifts and Public Goods in
Cyberspace” namely, reciprocity, reputation, attachment, and efficiency.

As long as communication and conversational contents exist, technical

communicators will never be out of the picture. Whether you are working for a company
online or simply an unemployed or freelance user of an app, you could always seek
avenues to rewrite content information to make it more accessible to a broader
population of audiences. You can do this by putting yourselves into the shoes of the
consumers.
LESSON 3 - The Best and Worst of Both Social Media and Electronic
Communication

“Cyber terrorism could also become more attractive as the real and virtual worlds become more
closely coupled with automobiles, appliances and other devices attached to the internet”

-Dorothy Denning

Discussion

Staying Secure in Digital World

The more people get used to waking up and opening their eyes next to social
media, life activities ranging from Facebook posts, fun facts about themselves on
YouTube, disclosed contact information in research websites, email subscriptions, to
mobile banking, the higher the urgency of the call to personal digital safety and security
should be from previous lessons, we have been talking about content sharing and
maximizing the use of social media and electronic tools. But, how sure are we that our
personal data do not matter people with bad motives and evil schemes?

Tracing back our childhood fairy tales, one story has become so prominent
where a beautiful white young lady, with the seven dwarfs, was poisoned by the wicked
witch who poisoned an apple for Snow White to partake. The evil witch disguised her
malicious motive as a pleasing fruit injected with poison. Relevant story when Jesus
was tempted thrice by Satan for exchange of fame, wealth, and power as long as he
surrendered to his demands. These promises from Satan were like that sweet, pleasing
apple of Snow White, however unlike the princess, Jesus was never tempted and
deceived. He was so wise that he knew Satan’s intent was malicious and was not really
a form of generosity. Therefore, the deceitful plan did not succeed.

So, how do these two stories become relevant to our lives as tech savvy? In the
cyber world, there are a lot of people whose plans are to deceive others to get what
they want. No matter how vigilant you are in protecting all of your private accounts, they
will always find ways to unlock those. So, we have to be alert 24-hours. This does not
mean that you have to stay up all night and widely open your eyes during the day. It
only reminds us to be extra careful, prepared and guarded in the cyberspace. Same as
those crimes that are happening in the physical world, they too can happen in the virtual
environment.

Gelbstein (2013) enumerated in his book, “Good Digital Hygiene,” some of the
possible incidents that might happen if one is not prepared in digital world.

 Sudden malfunction of electronic devices such as personal or office computer,

smartphones, tablets, camera, GPS, & game consoles
 Spread of virus from one device to another
 Loss of electronic devices due to theft, forgetfulness, and negligence
 Unexpected loss and corruption of data in devices like data in your laptop and
smartphones
 Disclosure of personal and professional data to harmful risks such as rape, theft,
murder, & homicide
 Exposure to spams, phishing, spear phishing, and scams
 Vulnerability to unsuitable and undesirable materials, such as those that are
xenophobic, misogynist, political, pornographic, and others
 Risk of children’s exposure to inappropriate materials
 Identity theft leading to financial damages and many others

Cyber Crime Cases

Locally, despite having the Republic Act 10175 also known as the Cybercrime
Prevention Act of 2012 which is a law in the Philippines that aims to address legal
issues regarding online communications and the Internet in the country. Francisco
(2017) of Rapper.com reported that cybercrime cases in the Philippines has increased
for the past three years (2013-2016) (update from last year) having online libel, online
scams, and identity theft as the most common incident complaints. There were 494
complaints recorded of online libel in 2016 compared to 311 in 2015. While online scam
complaints had 444 complaints in 2016 from 334 in 2015 along with increasing identity
theft reports since 2013 according to Philippine National Police-Anti-Cyber Crime Group
(PNP-ACG).

Below is a list of cybercrime offenses that are punishable by law in the country:

 Offenses against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data

and systems:
 Illegal Access
 Illegal Interception
 Data Interference
 System Interference
 Misuse of Devices
 Cyber-squatting
 Computer-related Forgery
 Computer-related Fraud
 Computer-related Identity Theft
 Cybersex
 Child Pornography
 Unsolicited Commercial Communications
 Libel

 Other offenses:
 Aiding or Abetting in the Commission of Cybercrime
 Attempt in the Commission of Cybercrime

Cyber Crime Technology

Needless to say, you, the author, among all possible offenders, could be held
responsible and liable whenever you spread malware, spam messages usually with
malicious content, and even your use of your infected flash drives. So, you should
always be aware of your devices especially when you lend them particularly drivers with
copyrighted contents. Other offenders include hackers, malware suppliers, cyber
criminals, terrorists, and cyber armies. A cybercrime offender is not like any other
criminal who does not need to be technically intelligent to commit a crime. He/she is
usually well-educated, intelligent, and creative human being that has enough knowledge
in ICT. Cybercrime happens due to lack of editorial measures or quality assurance in
the World Wide Web.

How to Be Safe in Cyberspace

Naturally, all of the digital natives must be cautious and aware of the possible,
though not the least things they can do for their own safety and security in the virtual
world. Although, total security may not be possible to achieve, people should still be
oriented on how to make adjustments and appropriate actions, in case.

1. To avoid and/or respond to malware (malicious software) issues…

 Have updated software devices;
 Use password for your ISP (Internet Service Provider) like your Wifi and to
all your other devices especially if you were a generous person who
always allows other people to use your gadgets (You may still use the
guest account;
 Do not easily go to websites, download, and install files with high chance
of infecting your device; (You may opt to remove your pre-installed app in
your computer. Go to
SETTINGS>SYSTEM>APPS&FEATURES>UNINSTALL)
 Make it a practice to scan and safely remove drivers that you install to
your device;
 Do not entertain spam messages;
 Back up your files ALWAYS;
 Dispose your devices properly;
 Buy and use only verified and reliable anti-virus, firewall, and web security
software; and
  Do not attempt to misbehave online.
2. In case you deliberately want to misbehave, stop thinking of the following:
 Exploiting your office or employer’s systems, devices, and facilities;
 Using bcc inappropriately to your email transactions;
 Reproducing confidential data of other people and sharing it with others
without their notice;
 Leaving offensive, insensitive, and slanderous comments on someone
else’s posts only to define them; and
 Hacking other’s devices by installing malware to theirs.

3. To avoid being a victim of identity and data theft…

 Just like your physical stainless keys for different privacy and security use,
you should also have various passwords on all your electronic devices
and social media accounts but make sure not to forget them by providing
secured backups;
 Use strong passwords such as combining lower and uppercase letters,
letters with Arabic numbers, any sequence of numbers to letters
conversion, or the new forms now such as the use of your email, contact
number, security question, finger print, face and photo detector, and many
others;
 Do not click on any unknown link through email, website, chat rooms, or
even SMS to avoid phishing and spear-phishing;
 Limit your sharing of personal electronic devices and personal accounts
(may that be your boyfriend/girlfriend, wait until you get married);
 Carefully link your accounts to your email so you can monitor if a person
opens your account in another device;
 Allow other users to use the GUEST and CHILD account;
 Prevent people from installing or purchasing software in your devices
without your permission; and
 Lock your devices when not in use.
 4. To secure your privacy or personal cyberspace…
 Use VPN or virtual private network that enables you to send and receive
data across shared networks that are directly connected to a private
network;
 Turn on your private browsing mode in your mobile browser so Safari or
any other browser will not remember the pages you visited even search
history;
 Choose the “secret conversation” feature of Messenger and “direct
message” on Twitter and Instagram;
 Customize or limit your post audience on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram,
and Messenger story;
 Make your accounts private so unexpected guest or friends would have to
wait for your confirmation before they see your profile on Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter;
 Turn off your GPS or location apps;
 Cautiously use tags on all social media accounts; and
 Hide your connections and turn off your linked accounts.

Whatever you do, there will always be a chance that someone is watching you.
You should not be afraid, instead, be attentive. As the law states, “The liability imposed
on the juridical person shall be without prejudice to the criminal liability of the natural
person who has committed the offense,” therefore, do not lose trust in the authority.

Common Internet Problems and their Solutions

1. Personal Computer lags forever with pop-up ads everywhere.

 If you always experience slothful start-up, your PC may be infested with
malware. It can be in a form of spyware that is brought by your Web
browser, viruses from your e-mails, and worms of all forms.
  You may try using these antispyware software programs: Microsoft
Windows Defender, at www.microsoft.com/
athome/security/spyware/software which is free and already included in
your updated Windows; Ad-ware, from Lavasoft, at www.lavasoftusa.com;
and Spybot Search & Destroy from www.safer-networking.org.

All you have to do is to download, install, and run them. Do not forget to
update regularly.

2. Inability to send large e-mail files and attachments

 Due to the limitations of the file size offered by email providers, users are
having a hard time to send or receive files.
 To resolve this, you may use Google Drive which allows the user to get
access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for
photos, videos, stories, designs, recordings, and other types of files upto
15GB of storage for free. Simply use your Google account.

To get access with received files in Google Drive, you need to get permission
first from the sender through the same e-mail he sent, and wait for his approval.

3. “Forgot password”
 It is inevitable to forget password due to a high number of registered
accounts to different websites and apps where user does/does not use
only one for all due to convenient reasons.
 The mandatory advice is to create password from a combination of letters,
numbers, and symbols; to still use unique and different passwords for
each account that are meaningful to you; to memorize them and not write
them anywhere (e.g. sticky notes on your monitor, notepad app on your
smartphone) for security reason; and to regularly change password.
 You may still store them all, if you are not good at memorization, in a
password-protected file using KeePass software of Keyring app. But of
course, you need to remember your password to your these programs.
Also you may choose the option “Remember of Keep Password” on
 browsers and smartphones every time you enter password for the first
time.
 Do not choose password that is common English word or your full name
which is easy for someone to guess.

4. People know everything about you.

 If you are a private or secretive type of person, you may want to make
personal things only to yourself. This is a common fear of those people
who join and opt to be active on various social media platforms.
 Remove spyware in your PC; use VPN (Virtual Private Network) apps
which offer a safe and encrypted connection over a less secure network;
always clear history of internet activities on browsers and smartphones;
avoid linking accounts to other accounts which is rampant now to those
who want to make all their activities in public mode; do not be careless by
putting all your personal information on the Web if you do not want others
to know those things about you such as your home address, phone or
contact details; and do not log in to public devices such as those in
computer shops, ordering stuff using other’s device, and giving your
account details to anyone.

5. Unlimited exposure to PC, tablets, and smartphones AKA Internet Addiction

 If you are a parent and you seem to see your kids and spouse being stuck
on their electronic devices, you may want to alleviate their addiction to
them. Or if you are an employee or student, and you cannot help yourself
from using your smartphones at work and in school, you need more
internal government and self-discipline in this aspect.
 First things first, to avoid addiction, do not install a Wi-Fi router at home.
But if you really need it, you may set schedule of usage and apply the
reward system to your kids while suggesting better apps to your husband
where you may be involved together at the same time.
 You may also choose the privacy and safety options for kids (Kids Mode)
which are present in some of social media and entertainment apps or
usually already installed for free in tablets you purchase. (e.g. YouTube
kids, Kids-proof apps, Amazon HD Fire 8 Kids edition, Apple iPad 2018,
LefFrog Leap Pad Ultimate)
 For employees, realize integrity of not using company-owned properties
for personal use such as their Internet connection, working computers,
and paid subscriptions for personal use. This problem and stigma is
common to this generation. There are even Facebook pages that target
these activities where working people can relate. It may raise awareness
and reminders but mostly for entertainment. This requires internal
government which can only be done by the person himself.
 For students, in line with one’s internal government, you may opt to
deleting your apps and simply use the browser to access them. Through
this, you may feel impatient to wait for the loading of the feed that will
make you want to log out or discontinue. Also, ask for an accountability
partner or people around you to remind you to limit your use of it or simply
discipline yourself by setting alarms or time allotment when to stop and
give yourself its right to rest. If this does not work, do yourself a favor by
committing to digital detoxification. Remember the cliché, “if there’s a will,
there’s a way”.
Chapter Highlights

 Before social media came into place, the Internet was mainly used for e-mails, e-
commerce, online forms and personal websites.
 The main purpose of social media is to connect to family, friends, and even to
strangers through sharing photos, videos, news, opinions, or simply sending a
quick message to anyone in the world.
 Personal branding is how you present yourself online so others can see you.
 Content sharing is seen as the core of all social media platforms. Content varies
from news articles, videos, photos, music, e-books, business presentations,
research journals, and other kinds of multimedia materials that are made
available at a low or no cost to the clients either to make money or simply share
for the sake of attending to peoples’ needs.
 Technical writing deals with writing manuals to promote and support hardware
and software that include writing user, operation, or maintenance documentation
for equipment, products, or services, formal documents of standard operating
procedures (SOPs), or citations of libraries for software; engages writers with
hardware/software developers and engineers to document vital date about the
systems and/or products.
 Instructional designing concentrates on determining goal, objectives and
performances, knowledge and skills breaches, professional and educational
training and content objectives, designing instructional strategies, media and
training delivery approaches and methodologies, and writing assessment and
evaluation to gauge learning and competencies.
 As long as communication and conversational contexts exist, technical
communicators will never be out of the picture.
  No matter how vigilant you are in protecting all of your private accounts, they will
always find ways to unlock those. People have to be extra careful, prepared, and
guarded in the cyberspace.

Reference/s:
Rosales, MJ.D, Galano, E.A & Riviera, JA.A. (2019). Technical writing: a resource guide
to writing across disciplines. Lorimar Publishing, INC. 776 Aurora Blvd., cor.
Boston Street, Cubao, Quezon City, Metro Manila

Other related references/sources