Using Social Media to Manage Personal Knowledge - Coursework Example

Using Social Media to Manage Personal Knowledge

Technology has evolved incorporating the different modes of social networking PKM (Zuber-Skerritt, 2005). The efficiency with which the network Works today has created a good platform in which people can share knowledge and other crucial information. Technology plays a significant part in how people organisations share their knowledge (Siemens, 2014). It has become easier to share and manage knowledge via the web 2.0. Social networking sites are places where many people converge to exchange information (Alavi, et al.2001). They have been sites where people can have fun while communication and catching up. However due to the increase in personal knowledge and organizational knowledge, these social networking sites have been converted into places that both organisations and people can use to store and manage their knowledge. Because of the recursive nature of the learning development to acquire information, this paper is going to focus on how social media can be used in personal knowledge management. People have of late acquired their knowledge which is essential in their day to day lives but however, this knowledge needs to be managed via personal knowledge management (Zuber-Skerritt, 2005).

Personal Knowledge Management PKM

Knowledge organization is the process of organizing managerial knowledge that is very diverse (Pauleen, 2009). Organisation has been acquiring knowledge for a very long time and they have introduced departments that deal with knowledge management. On the other hand, individual knowledge management concentrates on an person’s quest to study, socialise and work efficiently. Because people have adopted the way of social networking, they have acquired knowledge that will help them in their learning process. However, the knowledge that is acquired via learning in the social media and other quarters needs to be managed effectively. The aspect of personal knowledge management is that the person can manage his data which improves his communication skills, interaction and sharing the knowledge with others (Wright, 2005). PKM supports the goals of personal knowledge workers and takes it at a higher and more integrative level compared to organizational knowledge. PKM reflects more on personal management as an employee or individual and how well the person can manage his data and information from getting lost or being stolen by other people (Wright, 2005). Personal knowledge management gives the person the power to control his experience by allowing him to choose whom he wants to share the knowledge. Essentially, knowledge is power and it is essential for every person. It is knowledge that makes a person better at what he does (Schmitt, 2012). However, having added knowledge that others do not have puts an individual at an added advantage than other people. In the case of organizational knowledge, such knowledge would have to be shared across the team.

In PKM, the knowledge is personal and the good thing about it is that he can manage it and decide with whom to share the new knowledge (Pauleen, 2009). Initially, PKM was thought as a platform for only organizing personal information. However, with the advancement of technology and the ever increasing social networking sites, it has changed the definition of persona knowledge management to involve interacting, sharing, collaborating and building networks. The environments that have been created to support PKM support the creation of the knowledge sharing, distribution and application of the knowledge.

Knowledge is a central unit for almost all daily workers in the various and different fields. There is a category of highly skilled professionals who have taken personal knowledge to a higher new level. These are lawyers, accountants, consultants, software developers and web designers (Siemens, 2014). These specialized professionals can manage their knowledge because it is vast. In fact, knowledge will always be acquired daily but the human brain is not conditioned to store all that data at one. The human brain does do not have the capability of storing vast amounts of data without the chances of forgetting. It has made knowledge a source of competition not only at the organizational level but also between individuals. People who acquire knowledge way ahead of others will tend to keep that knowledge for their future use and can share it with his or her partners in their field of work (Schmitt, 2012). Work that involves the application of knowledge spans beyond organizational boundaries and is communication oriented more especially personal knowledge. Knowledge is the key source of progress in our society and arguably very essential in how the society interacts with each other thus the management of this crucial and imperative personal knowledge is strategically significant (Siemens, 2014). Personal knowledge management focus on socializing with friends and colleagues, completion of work tasks efficiently, personal needs and welfares and finally objectives of learning that are different to every person.

Knowledge is described as a fluid blend of ideals framed experiences, expert intuitions, contextual information that provide a basis for appraisal and a new platform for incorporating information and skills (Schmitt, 2012). This information is applied in the mind of users to a state of true belief that that information is essential to them and anyone else who can get his hands on them. Personal knowledge is diverse hence the need for management. In fact, personal knowledge has many subsequent parts compared to organizational knowledge. Even though it’s in small bits of information, it still becomes a challenge keeping tabs (Schmitt, 2012). Such information is gained through social contacts, memories, personal contacts, books, relationships, photography, quotes and intuitions that have been learned from the professional work, coworkers and what an individual knows about the world in general. Information at this level becomes unique because, from the same data, persons can comprehend different meanings (Jarche, 2010). It’s one of the main characteristic of personal information that makes it unique. That information from one person can have a different meaning for every individual who gets hold of the message because people interoperate things differently.

My experience with social media

Acquire or creation of research article

My first experience was to create a short article about the intended research I wanted do to and then send it to my lecturer via his email. Personal Knowledge Is created or acquired (Jarche, 2010). The development of the internet has created a platform that is very knowledgeable. The information that is available on the web cannot be exhausted and I was now using the social platforms to exploit this information. The web is a collection of information from across the world. According to my interest and desires, I created the information that was desired (Oren, et al. 2006). By reading the internet and books, a person can acquire new information that when used in research or professional work becomes very useful. On the other hand, information is created from existing bits of data. People create information via doing research and the findings are documented in books. The internet and the social media platform has created tools that help people in creating of the information. It helpedme acquire more skills and knowledge by doing research over the internet.

Storing of research data for my future use

My second experience was how I was going to store my research data online so that I could access it at any time. Google drive and Microsoft cloud were my saviors in storing information. Information is essential and it is the pride of every expert to have his information and data stored in a secure place that will help him manage it. Storage of data can be on the portable device. However, the best way to store data is via the social networks such as google drive accessed via Gmail and Microsoft cloud accessed via Facebook (Jarche, 2010). Platforms that store more data have been made. For instance, Google +, Gmail and Yahoo are social sites that have the capability of storing data in hundreds of gigabytes. It becomes easy to access this information from different parts of the world without necessarily carrying any document. It helped me because I did not have to carry my harddrive everywhere I went. In case I got any new information I could just add it via a click.

Organizing my research details

The other experience with social media platforms was that it helped me organize my research data in an organized manner that helped me achieve my research goals. Organizing of data helped me in the management of PKM. Organized data is easy to use, understand, share and even study. The aspect of data organisation is deeply rooted in data management. Organizing help an individual or even society keep tabs of the data at hand (Cigognini, et al. 2010). Never the less, social media has made organizing of data very easy for every person. They have coded tools that have different segments or folders with a different topic such that according to the type of data, it can be organized in various sub-topic to make it easier in search and sharing of the information. Such ease of organizing data came in handy because I could now not mix up details of the research.

Maintaining my research data securely

I had to make sure that I constantly maintain my data via security check up. I always used to change my password often to improve on my security. Data is maintained by constant addition of new data and information. Data maintenance needs attention from the actual owner of the data (Lee, 2010). The social platforms are very useful but also very disappointing. They have their shortcomings and weaknesses. If a person is not careful on how his or her personal data is managed, it can get attacked by viruses which will either erase or corrupt the data. Alternatively, the data can be hacked and stolen from the database (Pauleen, 2009). Some hackers even modify the data and different meanings emerge from the same data. Maintenance is essential and requires care and full surveillance of the social media activities in a persona account. Such useful security details helped me protect my data from unwanted preying eyes.

Retrieval of the research data.

At this point I appreciated the social media because was in my grandpa’s place and had not carried my laptop. So I went into cyber where I just downloaded my data and used the google word to modify and correct it so that I could send it to my lecturer for approval. Retrieving is the process of accessing the information and getting the part that will help an individual at the moment. Retrieval is done by access via a unique personal count on the social media, which could either be Bing, Facebook, Tweeter and much more. Once a person is logged in, he can retrieve the required information (Lee, 2010). It helped me my colleagues communicated to the deadline via Facebook group which came in handy. They also sent me the format of organizing the work via Facebook.

Use and redistribute

I also communicated to my lecturer via tweeter to ask him if the work required any special details. Well, he responded immediately and sent me other few details that i added to my work. After accessing the information, a person can decide to use it for his benefit or even share with his peers via the social media. There are no boundaries to the amount of information that can be shared. He can send the information to all his friends and peer (Wasko, et al. 2005). Sharing of the information will also be determined by the people who a person is networking with. There are some information that a person cannot just share or post across the social sites. Such information could be personal or hazardous for an organisations survival. After completing my work, I shared the small details the lecturer sent me via tweeter with my colleagues using the same tweeter platform. It is essential that data be sieved before it is posted across the web for other people to see. Security has increased and management platforms have taken the duty of blocking off or closing the accounts of people who are spreading wrong and damming information (Wasko, et al. 2005). Such bodies regulate the type of information that is being circulated on the social networks.

Social Media or Web 2.0

Over time, social media or web 2.0 has developed to become one of the most influential platforms where information is shared and it can either change the lives of people or even destroy it. It has become a powerful tool via which data and information can be shared between experts and individuals (Wasko, et al. 2005). The social web has designed tools that help in operationalizing a more social-centric version of the social networks. They have been made easy to use and very friendly for interaction. On platforms like the Facebook. Tweeter LinkedIn and Myspace, people, can share and manage their information on a bigger scale because they involve many people with large networks (Cigognini,et al.2010). However, a new platform has emerged where people can communicate effectively with one or two people without disclosing the information to many people. Such sites such as Tweeter Skype, emails, and blogs ad microblogs have gained popularity because information can be managed at a personal level unlike sites like Facebook. Facebook, however, is a site that has been categorized as a sharing site (Razmerita, at al. 2009). The advantage with Facebook is that information can be shared with a massive group of people which in sites lie emails and blogs comprehensive information can be shared with an individual without exposing it to other people. New and more advanced tools have been developed and coded in the soil networking sites that help in PKM management. Such tools like the Wikipedia and social bookmarking (del.icio.us) (Oren, et al. 2006). These tools are aimed at directly supporting personal knowledge management and encouraging collective intelligence. These tools have helped people manage and share their personal data and at individual levels. For instance, a specialist such as lawyers has their blogs in which they can exchange information and communicate as a professional group. The use of political blogs by professional of the same field has improved personal data management and how people share permeable formation (Oren, et al. 2006).

The social web or web 2.0 had gone a step further to develop tools that allow people to create, social share, collaborate, codify. Also, essential instruments such as data organisation have improved and helps in extending social networks in assist in gathering more information and even creating more data (Razmerita, at al. 2009). Web tools are helping people to be more productive and it is also fostering personal knowledge proceeding giving individual the satisfaction they require. The most recent are the collaborative tool where three or more people can share information and communicate at the same time. Sites such as Facebook and tweeter helps in sharing little vital information to a bigger group. However, wikis and blogs are regarded as the 2.0 versions of the social media because of their advanced capabilities to support personal knowledge management (Lee, 2010).

Social media importance in PKM

Availability

The social media is always available. It availability has made it very useful in personal knowledge management. The fact that it is available all the times makes it easy for experts to access information at all the time. It also makes communication very efficient because at any given time, information can be communicated and access by people on the other side (Bresnen, 2003). For instance social blogs and tweeter. It has made information sharing convenient in case emergency messages or responses are needed.

Manageability

Social media is very easy to manage. It has become a thorn in many organizational workplaces because people are spending touch time chatting other than doing meaningful work which has led to organisations blocking some social networking sites. However, when it comes to personal knowledge management, managing the social media platforms is very easy. The fact that a person can log in and off makes it easier to manage the data that one has. Manageability of the personal knowledge has become easy because of the various tools that have been offered by the platforms contribute immensely to the management and maintenance of the data (Jarche, 2010).

Data modification

Data modification has been made easy by the emergence of the web 2.0 which has introduced tools that make it easy to modify, create and access the data at any given place (Razmerita, et al. 2009). The fact that data can be changes at any given time via the use of modification tools like Google word. It makes it convenient for researchers to add and correct information during their research. If information is not correct, it can be rectified or deleted quickly. It has become a vital social aspect of personal data management (Inkpen, et al. 2005). Professional bodies are having an easy tie because any time a professional expert can access the data and continue with his work. He can change or correct information I previous data without much hustle.

Durability and security

Data that has been stored on the web has very high chances of staying for a long time while tamper proof (Cigognini, et al. 2010). The durability of the data is very high. Access to the data is restricted to the owner giving the owner the sole responsibility of deleting or adding information. It improves the durability of the information. Moreover, the security features that have been put in place makes it conducive and appropriate to store the information making sure that it will always be available to the owner even after twenty years (Jung, 2009). When social networking or sharing information, the security features in place helps in keeping the identity of the person secure and at the same time protecting his data and intelligence he has stored.

Conclusion

Personal data management is essential in how we manage our very own information. Knowledge management spans from organizational knowledge to personal knowledge. Personal experience has increased and the processes by which individuals gain this information has also improved tremendously. However, how this information is managed is what brings about the difference. The emergence of the web 2.0 has changed how people view knowledge management as the tools desired for knowledge management is in their hands. It has become easy to access the web and modify any data. On the other hand, personal data can be managed via the social networks that have been developed. They promote data management's, sharing and networking which is important in our daily lives. Professional and experts have benefited significantly from the development of the social sites since they can share expert information via the blogs and other social sites. The recent development of tools that supports personal knowledge management at greater lengths puts the social media in a good position to be used as a medium for knowledge management. For instance, the wikis and blogs have given the ordinary person a chance to manage his data without having to operate a database. Social media has made the accessibility of this information very efficient and attractive. It has improved the reliability if the knowledge. The fact that it is on the web means that it is available at any given time. For instance, researchers do not have to carry bulk material in the field during research but a tablet will do since it will access the web or internet. Data stored in the social sites should be managed and who receives the information should also be controlled by the sender of the information. The fact that a person can log into a site and modify his information shows that security has been enhanced to promote the management of data or knowledge without other I people interfering with the data. The social network and sites are essential in how we manage personal knowledge. It has changed the lives of people and made management easy, Organisations, however, are not much into knowledge management via social networks because their knowledge is vital and can attract incidences like hacking or attacks.