What You Can Learn From My Social Media Journey

The world of technology is moving at a high pace, leaving many with no option but to adopt the latest trends in the market without any form of training or guidance. In any profession where technology is applied there will always be different versions and it is impossible for one to start from the earlier versions to the latest one either on hardware or software. It is paramount to learn the basic concept of any platform to understand the Why, What, When, Who and How (4W's and H) I call this learning to learn philosophy (L2L).

In practice Learning to Learn philosophy is where I dissect a challenge at hand starting with the simple tasks graduating to complex one before production phase, the learning curve can vary, sometimes I can learn while working on a project or do a reverse from complex to the simplest.

 Defining the 4W's and H as used in our learning to learn at Wilsen Initiative (Wi); 

1. Why should I learn the skill or technology.
2. What do I need to read or do which is a must know. 
3. When can I use the skills for personal growth or other impact. 
4. Who else might be interested in the particular skill for networking, partnership or employment.
5. How can I develop a product using the skills acquired. 

In the same front the world of social media is still evolving and a lot is expected to happen in the coming years that will change or influence the way we do things. In terms of education there is a widening gap in time and resource to training the users on how to use different technologies more effectively visa vie launching a new version to meet the market needs.

I have interacted with diverse groups from youth groups to parents and whenever there is a discussion about social media and its impact the response usually varies on impact especially on the life of young people.

The digital Gap

There's a big misconception that social media is bad and I think this is attributed to limited reach out program and initiative that trains in simple emerging technology, focusing on the end user and the impact in the society especially targeting both in school and out of school in the informal settlements and the rural areas.

There's need to educate youth on how they can effectively use the social media in influencing a positive impact either in politics, social space, economic, etc. My first interaction with social media platform was back in the year 2000, I can't remember attending any class in social media, everything just found me on the move and because of my brand awareness a lot has happened since I signed up on the cyber space like myspace.

 In my conclusion this is a true evidence that there will be many things that are yet to happen that will impact our lives. It is very alarming to see how young people use social media in a negative way not aware of their future prospects or brand depends on the click they make online. Smart youth doesn't live for a day, they will see themselves living in the future they create through their brand and social media isn't an exception. What the young people need to know is whatever they post online stays online. 

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” (unknown). 

 "Creating a brand isn't easy, maintaining the brand is twice as difficult as creating one" ~ Wilson Masaka 

The questions I'm asking myself are; 

1. How how can we ensure that youth stay relevant and maintain their values in this world of technological disruption? 
2. How can we create an ecosystem of informed users? 
3. How can young people be engaged through the use of their mobile phone as a platform for learning and positive content production? 
4. How can we the reach unskilled youth through the use of simple tools and technology? 

How I intend to help the youth bridge the digital gap. 

Using Wilsen Initiative (Wi) model which I founded around 2011, we organize boot camps that enable interaction between young people and expert groups discover different ways of learning in narrowing the emerging gaps is the society either caused by technological disruption or how we engage as people while also encouraging being positive producers of content than just being a sponge that consume any information.

Our goals are;

1. To demystify how we learn, learn to learn.
2. To create a knowledge sharing platform with experts.
3. To learn beyond the class room. 
4. To promote lifelong learning.

More about our initiative www.wilsen-initiative.org 

10 tips for social media usage from my diary; 

1. Think of your brand before joining any network. 
2. Document your WHY. 
3. Think before you post, like, comment and share. 
4. Balance your time online and offline.  
5. It isn't a must to be in all networks.
6. Look at your privacy settings. 
7. Keep a profile that you wouldn't be afraid to give your parents to read. 
8. Who is in your list of friends.
9. Evaluate and decide what is to remain private and what you would like to go on public share.
10. Acquire some skills in writing and researching.

Feel free to share more tips on the comment section.