The Digital Adventures of Alex Shea

by Alex Shea, Marketing and Project Executive at Freshly Made Content 

I am quite sure that my friends will never forget the day that I called that well-loved content sharing site ‘Pin Interest’ by accident. Nor will they cease to remember my constant inappropriate use of hashtags during the early days.

My excuse is that I am a recently returned traveller, an excuse that is thrown around by anyone that is unemployed, broke or really, really tanned. In my case, the last sixteen months have been spent in the outback of Australia - Mildura; population 30,000, area 22,000 km², digital knowledge 0. Endorsing farmers’ tractor skills didn’t really seem all that necessary.

Returning to London was a shock to the system to say the least. I was ridiculed by friends and family regarding my lack of knowledge of LinkedIn, Twitter, basically anything other than Facebook (a devoted member since 2006) and to be honest, I was a little reluctant to join this new ‘digital age’. As well as being daunting, it also opposed the simple living that I had acclimatised to over the last year and a half. Here I was, imagining that I could live in London – the digital hub, and manage to get by with very little digital knowledge. The turning point? My sister’s profound, if unnecessarily blunt, words: “you’re doomed.”

So I got a profile, and a handle – and a job. And I’ve never looked back.

Over the coming months, I will be writing about my ‘digital journey’ (because apparently there is something more embarrassing than having very little knowledge about digital – having to DOCUMENT your lack of knowledge). In essence, this will be an ‘Idiot’s Guide to Digital’ – a somewhat offensive, albeit accurate, portrayal.

So come, join me on my travels - a slightly less sun and sea fuelled sort of travelling than I’m used to, but hopefully one that will provide me with something more meaningful and useful than a Chang Beer vest and the undeniable failure to “find myself”.