When comparing Pocket vs. Pinterest it is obvious there is a different ways of conveying and managing information. First off, Pocket is predominantly article focused on a wide variety of recent articles on different topics including Travel, Politics, and Self-Improvement, which I focused on in both apps. This is in direct contrast with Pinterest which conveys information predominantly through images. For example when I click the politics tab in Pocket, I get a variety of articles from major US news sources highlighting prominent topics in politics today. Whereas on Pinterest when I look up politics or politicians, I get a variety of pictures from politicians, polarizing memes, or images from activists’ rallies. The biggest thing to note in terms of the contrast between the two apps would be not only the preferred use of pictures over headlines but also the lack of specificity of Pinterest when diving into a topic. 

Overall, in terms of saving and organizing information Pinterest and Pocket both have options that are easy to use and extremely user-friendly. However, when using Pinterest, you can organize information into a board allowing the information to be visually consumed. On Pinterest, it is quite easy to see connections between information, not only with the pictures themselves but in the titles connected with the images as well. On the other hand, when you use Pocket, you can tag articles making the search text-based. While you can still find connections between sources, this can make it harder to understand connections between all saved sources. Mainly because there is no visual connection and the headline may be designed to be eye-catching and not inherently explain the tag the user provides it.

The first answer is quite obvious but it is incredibly important to be engaged as a digital citizen. Engagement is the way in which many young people, like myself, would often define a digital citizen. Gleason and Gillren highlight this in the Journal of Education, Technology, and Society by acknowledging that “Dutiful citizenship is predicated on civic responsibility, membership in civic organizations, and reflects a hierarchical style of both information dissemination and possibilities for leadership”. This, however, can only happen through further engagement by social media users on a wide variety of platforms. 

Before starting this class, I would have never even considered a tool like a data mapper as being helpful in a digital context. I really only viewed social media as a tool that was used in an online context to share and indulge information. However, after further research by the Raising Children Network, it is quite clear that “Teenagers with smartphones and social media, online education, gaming or other accounts are digital citizens” further broadening what I defined a digital citizen could be. This made it clear to me that when using any sort of online engagement digital citizenship is on all digital work not just on social media.

Another thing I learned through my work on Padlet was the wide variety of tools at my disposal to find and share information. Specifically, I have never really considered myself a Pinterest user nor have I ever used Pocket. However, after completing Portfolio A, I have learned that it is possible to share things on more than just the average everyday social media such as Instagram or Tiktok. As noted by Beker in The Digital Citizen 2.0,  “the digital citizen is someone who is able to understand and critically reflect upon how to operate digital media and devices on a technological and pragmatic level and who, on that basis, can safely and skilfully handle digital media as tools for individual and cooperative purposes”. 

While you can accomplish operating digital media by only using social media like Instagram, using tools like Youtube, Padlet, Pocket, and Pinterest are other ways to expand your digital citizenship via a wider variety of collaborative tools. This will hopefully allow me to be able to seek out and find information that otherwise might have been neglected by sites that romanticize popular trends. Furthermore, as noted by the Council of Europe “once the information is acquired, it is then necessary to apply transversal skills such as critical thinking by searching for and comparing divergent sources online”. Therefore, in the future, I plan to use more sites and apps, such as the ones provided in this assignment to better expand my information literacy as well as improve my digital citizenship.

Finally, one of the last things I discovered about digital citizenship is that sharing information needs to be positive and productive. Throughout this portfolio assignment, I often found myself wanting to overshare information that was not inherently necessary or productive. Upon reflection, I realized I do this in my everyday life as well, especially in digital settings. I have found that this is in stark contrast with most students my age. Specifically, in the realm of political activism through the internet. 

While most “university students in general, do not prefer being involved with political activism on the Internet,” I have overshared not only my political views but also polarizing ideas. After reading “Understanding University Students’ Thoughts and Practices about Digital Citizenship”, I realized that their opinions highlighted an issue that I should share more concern about – that posting online could impact my future. In today’s world where everyone is connected, it is oftentimes easy to forget that future employers could see some of the polarizing things you are posting. While I want to go into the field of politics, sharing your every opinion is not necessarily best for a company that could potentially hire you. After reviewing LinkedIn’s guide for social media and politics, they agree that this could be an issue for potential employers because it can make you seem emotional, irrational, and lacking self-control. This is something I will most certainly keep in mind before posting anything highly politicized without factual information to back it up. Overall, in my path of growing into becoming a better digital citizen this Portfolio assignment opened my eyes to many areas of growth, and I am excited to continue learning new methods to become a proficient digital citizen.

Becker, Daniel. “The Digital Citizen 2 - JSTOR.” JSTOR, JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26926436?searchText=digital+citizenship&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Ddigital%2Bcitizenship&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A106223569cbfd57fbef67f9275c020d8. 

“Digital Citizenship: Teens Being Responsible Online.” Raising Children Network, 27 Apr. 2021, https://raisingchildren.net.au/pre-teens/entertainment-technology/digital-life/digital-citizenship#:~:text=Teenagers%20with%20smartphones%20and%20social,life%20safely%2C%20ethically%20and%20respectfully. 

Gleason, Benjamin, and Sam von Gillern. “Digital Citizenship with Social Media: Participatory Practices of ...” JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26273880.

Kara, Nuri. “Understanding University Students’ Thoughts and Practices about Digital ...” JSOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26273878.pdf.  

Laura Brown, PhD. “Sharing Your Political Views on Social Media: How Far Is Too Far?” LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sharing-your-political-views-social-media-how-far-too-brown-phd/. 

“Media and Information Literacy - Digital Citizenship Education (DCE) - Publi.coe.int.” Digital Citizenship Education (DCE), Council of Europe, https://www.coe.int/en/web/digital-citizenship-education/media-and-information-literacy.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sharing-your-political-views-social-media-how-far-too-brown-phd/. 

The Right to Remove Content

Snapchat respects your right to remove any content you have put up. Our platform has a feature that allows you to delete content that you have created, and you can also report any content that violates our community guidelines. We will remove any content that violates our guidelines or applicable laws, and we will take appropriate actions against users who repeatedly violate our policies.

The Right to Know Who Has Access to Your Data

Snapchat is transparent about who has access to your data and for what purposes. We collect your personal information to provide you with the best possible experience on our app. We may also share your information with third-party partners who help us improve our services, but we only do so with your consent or as required by law. We take your privacy seriously, and we have implemented a variety of measures to keep your data safe.

The Right to Safety and Support

Snapchat is committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for all users. We have policies in place to protect our users from harassment, hate speech, and other types of abusive behavior. We encourage our users to report any behavior that violates our policies, and we take appropriate actions against users who engage in such behavior. We also provide resources and support for users who may be experiencing issues on our app.

The Right to Informed and Conscious Use

Snapchat understands the importance of informed and conscious use of our app. We want our users to know that the internet wants to keep them on it, and we provide tools and features to help them avoid this. We also provide resources and educational materials to help our users understand the risks and benefits of using our app. We encourage our users to use our app responsibly and to take breaks when needed.

The Right to Digital Literacy

Snapchat is committed to promoting digital literacy among our users. We want our users to understand the purpose and use of our app and to have the skills to create and use content responsibly. We provide resources and educational materials to help our users learn about digital literacy, and we encourage them to use our app in ways that are safe and responsible.

In Conclusion

Snapchat is committed to protecting the privacy and safety of our users. We believe that every user has the right to remove content they have put up, know who has access to their data and for what purposes, receive support in case things go wrong, make informed and conscious use of our app, and have digital literacy about the use and purpose of our app. We encourage our users to take advantage of these rights and to use our app responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about our privacy policy, please contact our support team.

Although this BCG Global visual was created for businesses, it is easily modifiable to create an individualized digital strategy. It is important to develop a focused, ongoing digital strategy if one’s social media presence is to become a brand. To that end, I have taken each of the actions in the graph above this semester to establish my own digital media plan. At the start of the semester, I began by applying what I learned in class to my daily life. I see myself as a micro-influencer who has a specific interest in advancing civic involvement in Texas. However, I came to understand that some of my content did not correspond with a specific strategy. 

"Building a Personal Brand through Social Networking" highlights the significance of advocating for positive change in Texas as a significant component of my brand. A good way to build lasting brand influence is to become a provider of "good quality practical information and advice, as practiced by Chris Brogan on a global scale, and by our case study businesses at a more local level," Harris and Rae state (Harris and Rae, 2023, p. 20).  Furthermore, Avery and Greenwald emphasize that "defining your purpose" is the first stage in developing your brand in "A New Approach to Building Your Personal Brand" (Avery and Greenwald 2023)  As a result, I intend to focus on providing true information by fact-checking sources before reposting them and, more particularly, offering relevant election information to help support voter mobilization in Texas. 

For example, on LinkedIn, I never post about activities I am working on or starting. My LinkedIn page focuses only on my prior experience in Texas politics. After completing this module, I intend to keep my LinkedIn profile updated by highlighting the work I am performing or am starting. Overall, as stated in the "10 Golden Rules of Personal Branding," consistency in message defining your brand across different online platforms is critical (Chan 2022).  I want to spread my intended message about encouraging change in Texas across multiple platforms, like LinkedIn and Instagram.

A challenge with LinkedIn is distinguishing between promoting and boasting. In particular, it is crucial that "when developing and managing your personal brand, take the opportunity to tell people something—you've been to a school governor meeting, you've written your latest blog post, etc.—or how your latest project is progressing," according to the text, "Managing Your Personal Brand" (Gardner, 2014, p. 101).    To establish my personal brand in a digital setting, I must rely on myself to promote my brand in a humble manner. This is another reason why I intend to utilize LinkedIn to hone this skill in a way that reflects pride in my achievements without appearing to be boastful.

Through completing the peer review process, I received feedback to be more specific on what I learned from E-Portfolio B and to tie some more emotion into my piece. Overall, E-Portfolio B was beneficial to my ability to understand and manipulate social data into software to visually display data. This was something that I had little experience in prior to this course and is definitely a skill I will take far beyond this class. In terms of general emotions, I feel as though this portfolio work was important in building my self confidence to be able to promote myself in the avenues mentioned in the paragraph above. Frankly, I fear being the loudest person in the room, especially when promoting myself. Nevertheless, I will keep in mind that promoting myself effectively, confidently, and humbly is a great way to build connections.

Overall, throughout the duration of this course, I have learned that the idea of developing a personal brand has resonated with me this semester. My main goal in life is to be memorable in every possible element of my life. An effective way to accomplish this, as stated in "12 Reasons Why Building A Personal Brand Is Important," is to develop a strong personal brand (Mania 2021).  Even though my personal brand might not yet be perfect, I intend to use the knowledge gained from this course to further develop my personal brand to make a positive difference in the world.

Works Cited

Avery, Jill, and Rachel Greenwald. “A New Approach to Building Your Personal Brand.” Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Publishing, 10 Apr. 2023, https://hbr.org/2023/05/a-new-approach-to-building-your-personal-brand. 

Chan, Goldie. “10 Golden Rules of Personal Branding.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 12 Oct. 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/goldiechan/2018/11/08/10-golden-rules-personal-branding/?sh=20ff77fa58a7. 

Gander, Michelle. “Managing Your Personal Brand.” Taylor & Francis, Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 22 May 2014, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2014.91353899. 

Harris, Lisa, and Alan Rae. “Building a Personal Brand through Social Networking.” Journal of Business Strategy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 6 Sept. 2011, https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/0756661111165435/full/html. 

Maina, Elijah. “12 Reasons Why Building a Personal Brand Is Important.” LinkedIn, LinkedIn Cooperation, 2 June 2021, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/12-reasons-why-building-personal-brand-important-elijah-maina/. 

Wald, Dan, et al. “The Five Rules of Digital Strategy.” BCG Global, BCG Global, 25 Jan. 2023, https://www.bcg.com/publications/2019/five-rules-digital-strategy.