Your immediate, knee-jerk reaction may be "Yes! Of course I have the skills.
I know how to send and receive email and surf the web.
I can even download and install files."
Well, three or four years ago, email, Web surfing and downloading files qualified you as "electronically literate," but not any more! Computer and online survival skills now encompass much more than that.
Surviving in an online world involves maintaining a high degree of "electronic literacy," which means focusing on and developing skills in the following areas:
** Personal Computer skills **
In the old days of 1998, the ability to use a computer, keyboard and mouse rated anyone as computer-literate.
In fact, you were a real pro if you could burn a CD, scan documents and manipulate digital pictures.
Fast forward to today and "personal computer skills" carries a whole new meaning. You must know how to maintain and update not only anti-virus, but "anti-spyware," and firewall software too.
You also need to understand how operating with Windows ME, or 2000, or XP will affect your ability to use certain software along with specific security precautions to avoid trouble from hackers.
** Internet Skills **
In the bygone era of 1998, friends considered you an online genius if you possessed basic surfing and navigation skills.
They watched in awe as you used search engines like InfoSeek.com (a long-defunct search engine) to find and download programs, pictures, and information on specific topics.
Now electronic literacy means the ability to set up, upload, and maintain basic web pages and blogs.
It also means understanding terms such as "RSS" and "news aggregator" because that's the next generation of how information will get disseminated online (and it arrives for the masses this year).
** Email Skills **
Perhaps the most deceptively simple of all the areas of electronic literacy, email actually presents the most challenges for keeping up with the times.
Previously, clicking the "send and receive" button meant you were proficient at using email.
Now, because of spam, viruses and "phishing scams" (identity theft schemes delivered through email), email requires a whole new set of skills, "street smarts" and software just to survive.
You must understand how to use an email "preview" program such as MailWasher.net to eliminate spam and virus email messages before they ever reach your computer.
You also must learn to protect your identity and avoid "phishing scams" by learning to recognize and defend against online con-artist tactics.
** Buy or Borrow Expertise **
Though you should constantly upgrade your skills through personal education, nobody can do or know it all (except maybe your know-it-all bother in law).
The good news is that you can always buy or borrow someone else's expertise to solve any online challenge.
A prime example of outsourcing in the consumer market is all the little stores popping up in strip malls to help you sell your stuff on eBay.
Through outsourcing, online survival skills can also mean taking what was previously the exclusive realm of computer geeks and making it as easy as dropping off the dry cleaning.
Blogs, otherwise known as web logs, is both an online diary and a guestbook. As part of the blogging function, it can either be set up as a private journal where people can just read what is posted or it can be set up in such a way where readers can get together and then place their own comments on your entry or to each other. Blogging is taking the online world by storm. It is the fastest growing new activity on the internet. For more details visit to www.instant-blog-and-ping.com it is allowing people to post their thoughts not only about personal things but also about the world at large. Blogs can be considered as opinion pieces on a particular topic or field. There are topic specific blogs where entries are limited to the topic set by the blogger. There is also an area specific blog which can be a resource on specific place. There are also blogs that are set up as a source for news on a highly specialized topic of field that would otherwise be unnoticed by the general media. Blogs can be used by internet marketers and business owners to promote a website or use the internet traffic produced by the blog to support a product, service or an affiliate program (as a separate source of income). Internet marketing professionals highly support website and business owners to start their own blogs because they acknowledge that it is a powerful tool for internet marketing. Here are some reasons why starting a blog is a great business move: Blogs allow you to stay in touch with the subscribers and clients. A blog allows you to keep communication lines open with so that you can always interact with subscribers or readers. It also helps nurture trust in you as an individual and owner of a business owner. It's a great way to get regular feedback. A blog's feature that enables readers to post comments is a great way of getting feedback from your clients. Clients and readers can comment on what you have posted and these replies can help you determine what they need. A blog is not labour intensive. You don't need knowledge of HTML or other web designing skills to make and post blogs. Most bloggers use WYSIWYG HTML editors to help in the blogging function. These very easy to use and require very little technical skills, for more details visit to www.instant-blog-and-ping.com if at all. For more information login to. A wonderful way to distribute information. The biggest benefit of blogging is that you can post articles in the form of articles or reviews. These articles can help lift your status as an expert in your field. It is a big help to your page ranking. Blogs are so rich in content that search engines can't get enough of them. The fact that blogs also offer new content makes it attractive to search engines.
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