Utilization of Social Media at daily work

I work as an expert/designer, and I also do some operational stuff with different situation awareness systems. The most important digital tool I use is Skype instant messaging, where I use a bunch of different chat rooms to talk with my work community. In addition, I use Microsoft’s Sharepoint service for file sharing and collaborative editing.

In public administration, systems are practically always closed, so it is not possible to use open internet services. This limits the range of tools that can be used. Since most digital service platforms operate over the public internet, it is often not possible to use them in closed networks. However, it is possible to use services through virtualization and VPN solutions, for example. Even if internet-based services were accessible in this way, there would still be a security risk. For example, sensitive material cannot be fed into artificial intelligence for summarization or analysis, as the distribution or leakage of material ending up on the server can no longer be controlled. Most of the services I use in my work are therefore limited to general information searches and fact checking.

A common observation on social media platforms seems to be that they all now offer paid subscriptions. Free versions are often limited in terms of usage time or scope. Advertising is also restricted if you purchase a paid subscription. The free version is often sufficient for occasional use, but in practice, professional use requires a subscription, which can cost several tens of euros per month.

Tools of Social Media

Among others, I familiarized myself with the following tools, which I felt would be useful in my work:

Dall-E
An AI-based application designed for illustrations and visual artistic expression, which I could easily use to add illustrations to my PowerPoint presentations. I decided to try the application and found that in 2025, Dall-E will no longer function as a standalone user interface, but will be integrated into OpenAI’s products. It currently functions as a multimodal model in the ChatGPT user interface. With simple commands, I was able to create graphics to illustrate, for example, aviation collision avoidance rules. This feature would certainly be useful and speed up the creation of my presentations.

ChatGPT
ChatGPT is an AI-based chatbot developed by OpenAI. It can answer questions, engage in conversation, and generate text in various formats. A great feature is that it can also generate code in the desired programming language. This would be helpful in my own design work when I want to try programming a microcontroller for a specific function, for example. Since I’m not a very good code writer, this feature would definitely save me a lot of time. An AI-based solution would also be great for comparing different documents.

DeepL
DeepL Translator is an online translation service based on neural networks. It translates over 30 languages, providing natural-sounding results. I tried the service and compared its translation to the same text using Google Translate. In my opinion, the result was indeed better when using DeepL. This kind of copy-paste text translation would be useful in my work when I have to study foreign-language source materials. Even though my language skills are sufficient, I could at least use this tool to check my own translations from time to time. If the text to be translated contains vocabulary that is unfamiliar to me, this would probably provide the correct wording and expressions directly in context.

Doodle
Doodle is a web-based scheduling tool that makes it easy to set up meeting times even for large groups. The meeting organizer can propose different options to the participants in the form of a questionnaire, to which the participants respond. A particularly good feature of the service is that you do not need to register separately, but can respond via a link. I would gladly use this tool for organizing ad hoc meetings. Sending emails to participants to find a suitable time is slow and cumbersome. A similar feature seems to be available in the WhatsApp application. Doodle also reaches those who do not want to use certain instant messaging services.

Miro
Miro is a cloud-based collaboration platform that allows groups or teams in different locations to participate in planning and visualization either in real time or at a time of their choosing. I tried designing a small block diagram of a radio receiver with the program, and it was easy to do and looked good visually. I could use this program in my work when designing new systems with colleagues, even though we are at the same workstation.

Reviewing the use of Social Media

In my opinion, the positive aspects of social media are its ability to reach large audiences and the speed of communication. When it comes to information- and fact-based communication, the speed of social media is unmatched in its global reach.
However, social media users must be highly media literate in order to assess the accuracy of the source of the information being published. This can sometimes be difficult if you want to be absolutely sure of the accuracy of the communication. For example, messaging services such as X, Facebook, and TikTok also spread a lot of disinformation, which is intended to serve the publisher’s own purposes, for example, by influencing public opinion.
In my opinion, however, users will eventually form an understanding of the accuracy of the content they consume, but this can of course be a very subjective understanding, influenced by factors such as a person’s socioeconomic status in society and their own values.

Elements of successful use of digital application

Many factors contribute to the successful use of a digital application, some of which immediately come to my mind. The first thing that comes to mind is its relevance— is there clear benefits available when using application? Handling a single task with a single application can also be somewhat frustrating. According to some estimates, an individual uses an average of seven social media applications per month. I believe that the trend toward developing applications that combine different services will accelerate in the future.

Second, digital applications should work smoothly on different devices. The application should be scalable for use on desktops, tablets, and mobile phones, for example. Even today, I still come across many websites and forms that do not work properly on mobile devices.

The third topic is usability. In other words, people are less likely to read user manuals, and a complex application raises the threshold for using an otherwise good application. Technical reliability must also be at a high level. The application must function reliably and stably. In addition, the data transfer channel must not be too restrictive. The application should also work with slower mobile data connections. Lastly, but not the least issue is the overall security. Application security solutions must also be up to date, which requires regular updates that should be as invisible to the user as possible.

Self evaluation

The ePlatform task has been interesting. In this assignment, I have encountered familiar social media applications, but I have also been introduced to a large number of digital platforms and services which are new to me. There are effective solutions available to improve the efficiency of my own work. There is a wide range of digital platforms, and a large number of them are designed for specific functions only. In the future, I would see more need for integrated ecosystems enhanced with artificial intelligence, such as the Microsoft family of products. However, operating in a closed intranet environment places significant restrictions on the use of open internet cloud services. Perhaps in the future it will be possible to develop a sandbox solution for artificial intelligence.