Lesson 10: Media &

Information Literate
Individual
What is a literate individual?
Being a literate person today means more than being able to read and
write. In a world diverse with cultures, print texts, media, and technologies,
a literate person needs to possess certain specific capabilities.

1. literates individual demonstrate independence with text. They can,

independently, with little guidance from teachers and peers, comprehend
varied, complex print and digital texts, communicate and build on others
ideas, and understand and apply academic and discipline-specific
vocabulary and conventions of English. They know how to use strategies
and employ them when necessary to comprehend texts and apply literacy
knowledge and skills.
2. Literate individuals build strong content knowledge. They acquire and share
knowledge of subject matter through reading, writing, and speaking as well as
research and study. They read and understands discipline specific texts and
become experts in the content.
3. Literate individuals respond to varying demands of audience, task, purpose,
and discipline. They set and adjust their communication in relation to audience,
task, purpose, and discipline. They understand how words affect meaning in
writing and in speech, depending on the audience and the purpose, and how
different disciplines call for providing different types of evidence.
4. Literate individuals comprehend as well as critique. They understand and can
explain what writers, speakers, and visual and mixed media creators are saying
through their texts, but they also know how to analyse and examine these texts
critically. They question an authors assumptions and biases and evaluate the
veracity and logical reasoning of the claims.
 Enable people to interpret and make informed judgments as users of
information and media, as well as to become skill full creators and
producers of information and media messages in their own right.

Media and Information improve quality of life

There is no denying the extent of how the media and information age
has drastically improved the lives of people. Communication has been
made easier. Information has become widely accessible. Conducting
research has become more convenient. All these and more are enjoyed by
media literate individuals and prove just how much the quality of life has
improved thanks to media and information.
Media and information for greater political participation
The media and the government have a long standing relationship
in the fields of public service. While the government serves the
people by leading the nation towards progress, the media serve them
by informing public about subjects they need or they want. Through
the media reports of government activities and issues, the publics
are informed of the political affairs in the country and are further
encouraged to take a more active role in the government
Media and information promoting economic opportunities
The media industry has grown in number on today’s information age both in content and in the
workforce. The open content contribution nature of the new media has made it possible for ordinary
individuals to offer their materials for consumption often for free, or at times for a cost. Online
content is free but has gained popularity, advertisers will offer to buy digital ad-space on a web
page.
Even YouTube, a free video host, pays video contributors if their videos get enough views or of
their channels have a high subscriber rate. Paid content, on the other hand, creates direct revenue.
Free or not, media and information gives contributors platform for earning additional income.
It is true that the influx of media offerings has led to the creation of more jobs in the media. The
convergence of various media platforms has created hybrid mediums that require experts to run.
New jobs like social media managers or multimedia specialists have been created because of this
growth. Even IT based jobs which were once rarities in the media are now a necessity. As media
and information grow, so does jobs that require media and information literate individuals, and
when jobs grow, so does the economy. Employment or the lack thereof still persists as an economic
problem in most developing countries like the Philippines. The media industry in the age of
information plays a vital catalyst role to address that.
Media and information for improvement of learning improvement
Many believe that media and information have made learning easy, accessible, and
inexpensive. With these are true, the improvement in the learning environment brought by
media and information goes beyond convenience, availability, and cost.
Learning in schools meant understanding –or at least attempting to- subjects for the sake of
passing and getting good grades. One’s education is given importance because it is pre-
requisite to a good job which is then equated to a good life. Traditional learning
environments have caused people in general to lose appetite for knowledge. Luckily, media
and information have cleansed society’s palate and have reinvented learning as a whole.
Media does not force feed information to unwilling receivers, instead, media has made
information sought after. The media also made learning a choice instead of a necessary evil.
After all, no one is commanded “google” a topic or enrol in a certain online course, people
who do to choose to do it. Since the media is source information and information age is
characterized by the abundance of data, media and information have been closely linked to
the improvement of the learning environment in the present age. A media and information
literate individual take advantage of this further his or her lifelong learning process.
Media and Information individuals as more cohesive social units
The concept of unit cohesion stems from a military concept of bond soldiers
have that makes them more effective in working together to complete a mission.
Media and information literate individuals are said to be more cohesive social
units than those who are not.
By keeping them informed, as well as connecting them in ways that weren’t
possible before, media and information literates become more cohesive social
units. This creates a bond that does not only have relational implications but also
creates social impacts.
The media is said to have the power to affect social change. While this is true, it is
not the media that does the heavy lifting to create change in society, it is the
individuals in the society who developed a clamoring need for change because of
media. The media may play a hand towards a holistic development of the society,
but without media and information literate individuals sharing the same goal,
development would not occur.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Refers to the websites and applications that are designed to allow people to
share content quickly, efficiently, and in real-time. Many people define social
media as an apps on their smartphone or tablet, but the truth is, this
communication tool started with computers. This misconception stems form the
fact that most social media users access their tools via apps.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IS FLEETING

In the early days of social marketing, there was little conception for the
dollar –not so today. For example, you can spend thousand of dollars on a
Facebook ad campaign and, sometimes, get no return on your investment. By its
very nature, social media is a short attention span media- it is much harder to get
someone’s attention with a tweet then it was to get someone’s attention with a
newspaper ad. That’s because ad headlines and copy are harder to write on
Twitter or Instagram.
YOU MUST BE ACTIVE IN SOCIAL MEDIA
One of the biggest mistakes retailers make is to open up accounts on every
social media platform they think is relevant and then leave them alone with no
activity. Having an account with any of the social media platforms does not
mean your business is into social media any more than owning golf clubs makes
you ready for the PGA. In fact, social media users are turned off by the retailer
who opens accounts and does not engage with clients and the public and
consequently become labelled a pretender. The reality is, it is better to not have a
social media icon on your website if you are not going to actively engage with it-
and actively means on a daily basis.
DON’T MAKE IT ALL WITH YOU
The other big mistakes retailers make is to use social media to talk about
what is important to them rather than talking about what is important to the
customer. As a retailer, you may think it is great to shout that you have a sale
going on; and in some regards, this would be true. But, if that’s the only reason
you are getting involved in social media it won’t be beneficial. Your goal
should be to customer and engage with them to the point that they want to
share your post with others. If you use social media you need to engage with
your customers, involve them in a dialogue, and ask customers which one they
like the best. This creates a dialogue which leads to shared posts which leads
to engaged followers. Plus, if you follow this example, it will also lead to
enhanced margins because your back and forth conversation will prevent you
from buying the item that won’t sell as well.
IMAGES ARE KEY
Another thing to consider is that the most commonly-shared content on
social media is an image. So, always include an image with your posts. This
will dramatically increase your chances that one of your followers will share
the post with their network. While building up a large network of followers is
great, ultimately what you want is to have your followers- no matters how
many you have share what you’re posting with their network, and those
people will share your post with their followers, and so on. This is the new
form of “word of mouth” and it’s what people mean when they say a post
went “viral”.