“As we entered 2020, there were an estimated 3.5 billion social media users worldwide.” (Lipschultz, 2020).

“The 2020 Covid-19 Coronavirus global pandemic raised the stakes on the importance of social media communication. Confined to our homes, we turned to social media for news, information, entertainment, and work functions.” (Lipschultz, 2020).

With the advent of the internet and the creation of social media platforms, information is shared and accessible at an increasing rate and efficiency. In the modern workplace, its usage and mastering are unequivocal.

As a poet and writer which are my profession, I use social media platforms that I consider as a part of my workplace and work environment.

I started experimenting with blogs in 2000 and I was among the first 200 bloggers in Tehran. In it I wrote articles about women in society, their rights and their lives, in addition to my poetry and short stories.

What I gained was good quality readers who for the most part posted productive comments. They also brought some dynamic comments, conversations, and added constructive criticism.

“Compared to the other two engagement features [like and share], Comment is the highest level of engagement because it requires more effort by the public to directly respond to organizational messages.” (Cho, Schweickart, & Haase, 2014).

“Moreover, given that everyone can easily access other commenters’ messages and observe the conversation, publics can participate in ongoing dialogues and engage with not only the organization but also other commenters.” (Cho, Schweickart, & Haase, 2014).

Unfortunately, my blog was hacked by Iran's Islamic government in 2010 and I lost all my archives and data.

“The importance of the Internet also cannot be ignored within the broader context of political strife. In Iran, for example, about 80 million people were isolated in 2019 when the government blocked access during gasoline price increase protests – a practice of censorship common from Ethiopia to Russia.” (Lipschultz, 2020).

The importance of social media and the internet in more broad terms are essential to the work environment and workplace but its meaning and true potential are also well understood by governments.

Luckily, one of my followers in Paris saved some of my articles and webpage logo through her proficiency in computer technology. 

Subsequently I created new blogs and I shared content via the Facebook platform since 2009 and Instagram since 2015.

According to Lipschultz, “Facebook and its more than 2 billion users were ahead of other social media companies in the Western world. The majority of Facebook’s users are now outside of the US and Canada.”

He added, “Instagram had an estimated 1 billion active users, and it offered dramatically higher engagement than Facebook, Twitter and other sites.” (Lipschultz, 2020).

For the work environment, I engage my audience by announcing upcoming talks in the U.S. and around the world, offering latest published articles, and most importantly posting information about my new books and book signings events. In addition, I share news about participation in national and international conferences for writers and scholars.