LinkedIn: Final Learning Journal

 I've used LinkedIn for a while now and, as such, am somewhat familiar with it already. In fact, I had already accidentally completed many of the assignment requirements, such as connecting with people and following companies. I have found that LinkedIn is easy to use and very user-friendly. The fact that I had already done many of the things listed in the assignment shows how organic the site's features are, as I made no conscious efforts to connect with people or follow companies yet had done it anyways. It's easy to make a professional-looking profile, connect with contacts, and search for job opportunities. I mostly use LinkedIn for internship and job hunting rather than communicating with individuals. I've found its search feature is straightforward and more efficient than many other job-searching sites. It also makes the job application process much easier, sometimes allowing an easy-apply option that is pre-filled with some information added to my profile. Even if I did not find a job on LinkedIn, I'm often able to find information on companies and people prior to interviews that can better prepare me for the interview.

I won't lie, I did not have a whole lot of new experiences with social media during this class. I was already familiar with sites like Twitter beforehand and never used Clubhouse outside of setting the account up. I've always been slow to adopt social media and only just started using Instagram during this class, though that was out of my own volition. What I did experience, though, were new and different lines of thought about social media, data, and online identities. Learning about things that once disturbed me, like information gathering, have become a bit less of a concern for me as I came to realize it doesn't really matter how an AI identifies me for advertising. I was also excited to connect things from readings, like the crazy advancements of facial recognition combined and internet oversharing, to things I was personally interested in, like finding missing persons or identifying bodies. It made me see different sides and angles to things I otherwise had a one-track mind on. Things online can often be seen as both positive and negative. However, nothing has caused me to change my core philosophies on social media use. I am still overly conscious of privacy and seek to maintain the separations of my online and real-life identities. While readings gave me a more nuanced view of the internet and social media, my actual experiences with some people online hold a greater influence over how I use social media. 


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikael-michalik/

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