Benjamin Zhi Min Loi

Having the long semester break ahead, I started my internship journey at WORLD OF BUZZ (WOB) in December 2019 as part of the internship programme AMU3744: Workspace Learning Internship. First of all, established in 2015, WORLD OF BUZZ (WOB) is a new social media news company under INFLUASIA which was founded by Michelle Tan and Chris Khristie. The platform was created to provide Malaysians with the latest viral stories and news, as well as unique listicles happening around the world. Being completely digitised, the company is smart in analysing the decline of old school print news. Today, the company is Malaysia’s’ leading social media news portal provider where it defies how news is consumed today by millennials.

During my time at WOB my daily tasks as a social media intern were to manage the company’s Tiktok account while also posting and creating content for the company’s Facebook page. Initially not knowing anything about Tiktok, it soon became my passion and, weirdly enough, I enjoyed doing it daily as it cultivated my creativity in creating content daily. In context, it was my duty to come up with scripts and choosing talents to be in the Tiktok shoots. As easy as it seems, I had to constantly be on Tiktok to familiarise myself with current trends and challenges. This relates to my task in handling the company’s Facebook page, as I was tasked to come up with ‘Malaysian Memes’ that were relatable to audiences. Apart from my daily tasks in creating content for the company’s social media platforms, I was given the opportunity to be in shoots as well as conducting street interviews out in colleges and university campuses. The opportunity to be in front of the camera was completely new to me, and I enjoyed it as it brings a whole new experience. Being on camera, also taught me certain protocols in production such as going through scripts, professionalism, and responsibilities on providing the best content on camera. Not to mention, constantly appearing on the company’s social media platform was a whole different experience as you feel flattered from positive comments by viewers.

Grateful for my time here at WOB, my time here sees me developing qualities which I did not expect when I first entered the company. The three qualities instilled in me during the internship experience were: knowledge on how content creation works, analysing how different algorithm works on different platforms, and basic protocols in video production. With WOB being my first digital media job experience, my daily tasks in creating content taught me how to persevere and pull through during ‘dry’ seasons. At times, I would really struggle with constantly coming up with good performing ideas for posts. However, through many trial and errors I soon learned that what qualifies as good content is how it relates to audiences. Moreover, algorithm plays a huge role as well, where the right timing and correct hashtags will help propel posts to larger audiences. As for protocols in production, I learned many factors play huge roles in how the final video turns out as the content and enthusiasm you provide determine the quality of the video.

Always relating it to the units I took in university, the roles given to me in this internship period relates to my current majors in communications and global studies and already developed an interest in social media and how news is consumed through the units I took in Monash, interning at WOB was an obvious decision. The classes in Monash taught me how important social media is today, and how digitised media is taking over in the modern world. Classes such as AMU2439 totally changed my perspective on what social media is today among youths and how digitised media is taking over print news due to the ease of its accessibility. Moreover, classes such as AMU3449 too taught me how affordances play huge roles how social media is consumed. Relating back to my workplace in WOB, affordances such as hashtags on Tiktok affects how a post does well as it affords users with new ways of obtaining content and facilitates new ways of social interactions and experiences.

During my three years here at Monash University’s School of Arts and Social Sciences, the units have certainly prepared me to critically analyse current social media trends and data. I have learned how crucial the right timing and analysis of social media’s algorithm play in reaching a certain mass audience. Where the right timing and right techniques play a huge role in determining whether the social platform does well or not. Not only that, these units have also taught me about the importance of social media and how it is taking the digital world by storm. People today consume social media extensively and through this, I strongly believe it is okay for young people to venture into career paths in digital social media. As for now, I am flattered that WOB offered me a part-time role after my internship. My last semester in Monash will see me juggling studies while working, but I believe nothing comes easy without any hardship. Overall, I feel passionate about what I am studying and by having a huge passion for social media, I have realised that I would wish to pursue a career based on analysing social media data and analytics.