[By Tan Tee May]



With the advancement of online technology, job opportunities are no longer limited to office jobs, retail, freelancing or even conventional businesses. In the social media age, various aspects of life have evolved to a whole new level, and this is particularly true in regards to new and not-previously-available job opportunities that are now made possible due to the rapid progression of improvements in social media technologies.

Such practices have begun to find their way into Malaysia. For example, production houses are the new trend for aspiring filmmakers to make their way through the broadcasting field. Popular YouTubers such as Grim Film, The Ming Thing, and JinnyboyTV are some of the few that have managed to reach sizeable fanbases to create local production houses of their own. Many years ago, this very idea would have been laughed at and frowned upon, as an unconventional form of work through which one could earn money. Today, the tables have turned and the said impossible has become a reality with our local YouTubers as examples.

Youtuber JinnyBoyTV's main cast (Image source: japalangblog.com)

Social media is no stranger to the recent developments in the job field. Thanks to the rapid growth of Facebook users, advertisers have resorted to the use of social media as their most effective advertising platform.  Because of the huge number of users on Facebook, advertisers create pages for their known products or services to reach their target audience. In doing so, several ‘page moderators’ are appointed to handle the page. Freelance writing is also a job prevalent in today’s society, as most are allowed to work from home and do not have to engage in the daily stress of snail traffic.

While it is not commonly discussed, the concept of a “Social media marketer” is now a viable a platform for additional income opportunities. Similar to Google AdSense, you can now choose to allow advertising on your personal Facebook timeline, where earnings will be dependent on the number of clicks on the advertisements placed on your page. Thus, generating traffic is the key to increasing your earnings here.

Image source: nreionline.com

As the job field has now opened up, students should look outside the box for jobs and depend on their creativity to get some side income as well. While normal office jobs are still the easiest way to garner income, it is not the only way. Social media has effectively proven that. Therefore we, as students, should definitely take the initiative to try our hand at these prospects.

Unabridged version of the article printed in ETC. Magazine's print issue 2.