I am working as a department manager in the field of engineering. The computer is the main tool in my work and I use it to make structural calculations, plans and communicate with colleagues and customers. In my work I have to use numerous different calculation and design programs. In 2d-desing I use AutoCAD and for 3d-design work I use TeklaStructures. Different dimensioning programs are used to calculate the durability of structures. Such programs are for example RaStat (calculation of forces), CadeonStructuralAnalysis (dimensioning of hollow core slabs) and FemDesign (3d structural design and analysis software). In addition to e-mail, I use Microsoft Teams for communication and remote meetings. Microsoft Excel is also heavily used. I also use WhatsApp Business to communicate with construction site and factory, because sending pictures with this program is very easy.
My chosen tools of social media
Todoist
Todoist is an online organization and task management platform. You can organize your tasks, add deadline reminders and track your progress. In my work, I have to schedule a lot of tasks, so this could be a suitable application for that purpose.
LinkedIn is professional online social network for members to create profile, tell something about your education, work experience and skills. You can also add your personal photo there. It is a kind of your curriculum vitae, but online. Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates and employees can find new jobs and business opportunities. I don’t have LinkedIn-profile, but I would definitely have to do one in the near future and explore all the possibilities it would bring.
Slack
Slack is a instant messaging program, which offers direct messaging, private groups and chat rooms. Slack was developed for professional and organizational communications and it is intended to replace other social communication channels. This could be one option to replace Microsoft Teams in our company’s internal communication.
Youtube
Youtube is online video sharing and social media platform that everyone knows. It has more than 2.5 billion monthly users and over 500 hours of content are uploaded to the service every minute. I use the platform by watching video tutorials for some new programs I have to learn how to use. You can find videos for every program, device or thing you can think of. Youtube could be also used as a marketing tool for the company.
Open Badges
Open Badges is a tool, that you can create digital competence badges. With these badges can be identified and acknowledged the competence, achievements and skills at the workplace, for example. In our field, these badges could be used to identify each designer’s work experience, skills and qualifications.
Positive and negative side of social media
Social media is very affective and cheap tool for marketing. However, its effective use requires a skilled operator. There are people who do social media to companies for living, therefore it creates more jobs. Companies can interact with customers easily and raise the positive awareness of the company. Social media helps people to contact each other, regardless of your location. It also helps to minimizes loneliness.
People are mean in social media, so many may feel bad. A lot of bullying happens through social media, so it should be dealt with somehow. You must remember, that whatever you post in social media, you can’t ever take it away. There is a lot of false information in social media, so you have to have skills to see whether the information is true or false. For some people, social media is addictive.
Key elements of successful use of digital application
The application must have a clear purpose and it must be easy to use. The interface should be clear and information security must be in order.
Self evaluation
This task was interesting, even though I myself use social media very little. That’s why my own social media skills are also pretty weak. However, I got to know new forms of social media and maybe, encouraged by this course, I will adopt some new methods to my working life.