ePLATFORMS

Social media at my daily work

I work at Kela as a team leader in drug reimbursement matters. In addition to Kela’s internal processing systems, I currently only use the Skype for Business application for communication, meetings and trainings. For safety reasons, other communication applications are not allowed to use for work purposes. For study purposes I sometimes use also Moodle and eOppiva, which is a learning platform for state administration and the trainings are intended for goverment employees.

Social media –  cons and pros

Today, social media sites exist for almost every purpose and they are widely used as either private or commercial channels of interaction. Through social media, it is possible to connect with people around the world, network and market events or services. It is also possible to sell, buy or present the company’s products and services and to share information quickly and up-to-date. Communicating through social media is easier than with traditional means of communication and ”the spark”  for contact is often lower.

In addition to the many benefits, there are also downsides to using social media. For example, sharing private images and information can reduce users privacy. Internet bullying, risk of hackers and the transmission of false information can also be seen as shadow sides. Excessive use of social media can also reduce the amount of face-to-face encounters and interaction in some cases. From my own experience, I can also say that social media can be too addictive and take time off from rest. Staring at the screen for hours can also cause a decrease in physical activity and thereby negatively affect your own well-being.

Five tools of social media – my choices

LinkedIn

I’ve heard of it, but I haven’t used it. As LinkedIn advertises, it is the largest professional network in the world. I believe that if I made a profile on LinkedIn, I would have a better chance of making myself and my skills more visible to other professionals in my field. This could improve opportunities for collaboration and, if necessary, career development.

YouTube

YouTube is a well known video application where users can create their own video content. My organization has its own channel, although I do not use it in my own work.  But if I did, I would use it, for example, to present various issues concerning drug reimbursement.

Jodel

I don’t know Jodel well, but I’ve heard it’s popular, especially among young people. For this reason, I chose this as one of the five apps. At Jodel, it could be possible to reach young people and, for example, it could be possible to answer users’ questions quickly.

Facebook

As a 40-year-old ”social media dinosaur”, this is the only app I’m actively using. I chose this because I can use it well and I know its functions. If I could, I would use Facebook in my work to inform about claiming drug reimbursement issues and answer user questions.

TikTok

With the popular video app TikTok, I could possibly make short and perhaps a little more free-form information videos related to drug reimbursement or my work in general.

Elements of successful use of digital application

To ensure a successful user experience, the user must have sufficient knowledge and skills to use the application. The user should be able to log in to the application effortlessly and manage its privacy and security settings. A successful application is versatile enough and has all the necessary features. For example, mobile applications often do not provide all the same functionality as browser applications, so it may not serve its purpose and remain unused. The required functions should be easy to find, so the structure should be simple.

Self evaluation

This task was challenging for me because, for security reasons, I cannot take advantage of social media applications in my work and most of the content in the work itself cannot be opened in public. However, it was interesting to learn about different apps, some of which I hadn’t heard of before. It might be useful to become more familiar with these in terms of leisure use.