Alumni Engagement

Is NUS really interested in Alumni Engagement?

When did anyone at NUS last visited their web page?

I thought it was hacked!

What's going on?

--Robin Low

My shrinking world

It is interesting that when social media started, the world got smaller. Suddenly, I could connect with some many more people, and learn more about the little things of my friends and families.

Search engine technologies has brought us information on our fingertips. Today, we can read about a product which we are interested in buying from another person who is not paid by the manufacturer, an honest opinion which we can trust. We can also research and compare features, specifications and pricing.

Our collective voices get heard. From blogging to tweeting, we share information and form groups with common interest. We curate information and share news that matter to us with our friends. We learn more about our friends and ourselves a post at a time.

With improvement in technology, things are changing. Today, I find that my world is shrinking. Somehow, my searches are tailored to my previous searches with the preferences of my friends. My newsfeeds show me news that my friends are sharing. Suddenly, even my Google searches are tailored to my preferences.

I am not sure if it will improve the quality of my searches, however, on my YouTube recommended videos are showing me what my Google+ friends are watching.

Looking at it all, I believe our experience online is getting narrower day by day. The role of search engine optimization is changing. Perhaps we should take social media optimization more seriously.

I've seen many videos and articles that went viral, as they get to the right networks of people and spread like wildfire. There are a few key factors in common with viral content:

1) Title
2) Description
3) Tags
4) Content Distribution

It is very interesting that now, well placed content can reach many people in a short period of time, however, it is also very disturbing that even the best articles without the right distribution can never be found.

-- Robin Low