How does the digital world effect your life? And how do you use social media and is your employer watching?

Is digital commerce for the frugal or the not so motivated person?  I think shopping on the internet give you ultimate power to find a good price.  Where else can you see if the TV on sale at Walmart is actually a bargain when you can log on to the internet and see multiple other stores selling the same TV.   Maybe you can find one cheaper.  Or maybe you don’t want to drive to Walmart, put the TV in the cart, wait in line to pay for it, put it in your car, then lug it home, then carry it into your house.  That sounds like a lot of work when you can buy it online and have it delivered.  For me personally neither of these are the reason I like to shop online.  I like the online shopping alternative because it’s fast.  I don’t have to wait in line, I don’t have to look at different stores or I don’t have to think too much, I just click, order and wait.  So does digital commerce effect my home life.  Yes, it allows me to save time, money and sure, be a little lazy.

Digital communication effects my life at school.  I have a full time job, I own and live in an apartment building, I work part time at a restaurant, I have two children and I even participate in a weekly bowling league.  How can I fit school into this equation?  Digital communication is the way.  The opportunity to be able to take college course online is stupendous.  It fits my schedule because I can maintain my schedule and budget my time to get my work done.  I can use email and Angel to communicate with my teachers and classmates.  It is a virtual classroom.

In my occupation at BlueCross digital literacy is now in the forefront.  Health insurance is a business where there is competition.  The company as a whole is in a spot now where we feel the need to become more literate with technology.  What can we give to our customers that the competition cannot?  Can we build a better website?  Can we offer more paperless options?  Can we use digital means to promote health and wellness to our membership?  These are the questions that we are going through at my work to learn more about ourselves and what direction we need to go. 

Can Your Facebook Account Cost You a Job. 
Click on the Video and See How Well it's Doing for Kim!!!!

 

Should companies look at your social media to judge you as a worker or a worthy employee?  This is really a tough question.  Everyone who uses Facebook, Google+, MySpace or something like this should be aware that they are posting for the public.  They should know what they are doing.  The article, http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2008/03/employers_get_outta_my_facebook.html, talks about the pros and cons of employers looking at your Facebook account.  At my work I have only heard Facebook 3 times in 7 years.  Once when they announce they were making their own Facebook page, once when a employee out on disability posted pictures of themselves doing physical activity online and the third time when we were having a labor dispute and Facebook was used as a forum and management was very interested in what they were posting.  I think the most important thing about the second two examples is that nothing from Facebook was used against them, no warnings, no write ups, nothing.  But I do ask myself was this information stored in the back of someone’s mind?  If there is a promotion or preferred work to be offered will they ask one of these people to do it before someone else?  That is not a yes or no question but it should be in the mind of an employee when they post these things.  Especially in a workplace.  You may have your privacy settings so the public can’t see you but if you have 500 friends, your secrets are bound to make it to the wrong person.