Steemit Philippines - Steemit Engagement Challenge Season 8 (Week 1) || The power of social networks and me

Social networks allow us to share content, interact with other users, and meet people from all over the world. The power of these platforms lies in the ability to share content immediately.

Social networks also allow us to create online communities, something that helps us to share our ideas and opinions with other users identified in an objective or topic. This gives us the opportunity to meet people with similar interests and form relationships with them. These platforms also allow us to promote our brand and create quality content to attract new users.

My arrival to social networks was almost simultaneous to my arrival to the internet. I don't remember exactly when I started, but I think it was between 1998 and 1999, I would have been 39 years old.

In the beginning, I started with e-mails, a necessary tool for work reasons. My first e-mail account was with Yahoo!

While browsing this platform, I discovered that I could keep up to date with world news and I came across the chat rooms. That is where my relationship with social networks began. In those rooms, I met many people from all over the planet.

Then came "MSN Messenger from Microsoft" and a little later I was on "Yahoo! Messenger". Two powerful tools that were very helpful in my profession; I was connected with clients and relatives in a direct way, much better than e-mails for being immediate messages.

Then came MySpace, and a little later Facebook, which revolutionized everything that was communication. We could sell more, reach more people and we could touch on practically any subject.

Later I would arrive at Twitter, a network that fascinated me from the beginning. I always said that Facebook was for banalities and Twitter for more interesting or serious things. Today I maintain that.

From there on, I met any number of social networks, some interesting and others very banal, until I came to tokenized social networks like Steem where we interact with many users creating content and getting rewards.

The right age to start on a social network depends a lot on the user and the type of platform.

In my case, my children started having Facebook accounts at the age of 10. There they communicated with their classmates and family members. At all times, my wife and I were aware of their performance on the networks and on the web in general.

Therefore, even when the platforms indicate a minimum age, I think it is something of family education, respect at home, and communication between parents and children. My children were taught that social networks are an instrument to take advantage of in a good way, something that will contribute to their instruction, research, discussion of study topics, in short, learning.

When someone is no longer responsible for managing their account on social networks and wants to stay on them, they should request the services of someone responsible, with clear criteria of what they want. This regularly happens with companies that are starting to grow and expand. Social networks are definitely an effective tool to support the sales force.

The person managing the account of another person or company must know the product. For example, if you manage the account of a writer, you must know what genre he or she handles, what is his or her audience, what the author is developing, and what have been his or her works, and distribution sites. For the account of a company, it is the same, you must know the products of the company, which is the most demanded, know the public or customer, know the stock, the effective hours to publish, be in contact with who request a consultation or help, give quick and accurate answers.

Human beings need to be communicated, so this phenomenon of virtual social networks has a splendid future. Just look at the tokenized social networks that are attracting more and more followers, due to the fact that it is possible to obtain remuneration and the freedom provided by web3.

Social networks have been an effective tool in my life. I am a systems engineer and also entrepreneur. So social networks are a power that allows me to be close to my customers in all areas. I use them to promote my products, to help my clients technologically, and even to distract myself by being in contact with my relatives on the other side of the planet.

Social networks have allowed me to expand my sales, meet other people who have given me knowledge, have expanded my commercial brand I even met my wife on a social network. That is to say, for me that I have known how to use them, and they have been very profitable.

As a user of social networks, I only see the disadvantage that we are under the direction of these centralized companies. As I have already explained, these platforms influence their algorithms. According to their guidelines, they suggest topics, people, and often information that is not relevant. So we have to be very aware of what we receive and filter out what is harmful.

A social network is for production, not for wasting time, and even less for posting personal information on them. Social networks are not therapists or financial specialists or have existential solutions; you have to be very careful with that.

Criminals are everywhere and social networks are no exception, so we must evaluate very carefully what we do on them.

False information also abounds in social networks. We must verify every piece of information that reaches us and not replicate the madness that appears on them, for the good of the community, of the family, for the good of the individual.

It is important to be alert about inappropriate content and online harassment. It is important to keep in mind that users have different opinions and respect them. This will help us avoid online conflicts.

I am not aware of which social networks are more or less used in my country, but I can talk about the ones I use and the ones my acquaintances use.

Twitter, I use it to keep up to date with news of any kind, especially regarding the crypto world, news of events in my country, the economy, and world politics and to promote my products, as well as to see the competition.

Instagram, because this platform is my window to my captive and future customers. In it, I show my products.

I use the commercial version of WhatsApp and Telegram because they serve me for direct contact with clients, partners, and family members.

Youtube, TikTok, to upload audiovisual content, commercials, or works of my authorship.

Steem, to upload my written content, my works such as short stories, stories, micro-stories, poems and stop counting.

In conclusion, the power of social networks is enormous. If used intelligently and responsibly, the benefits are many. These platforms allow us to communicate, connect, inform, and work together to achieve common goals; you just have to know how to use them.