Visitors are essentially people who go online, do whatever they need to do and go off. They come and go as they please and leave little to no trace. As a result they usually have got little to no social persona online.
Residents are people who live out a portion of their life online. They have a form of their identity, which stays out there online even when they log off. However, that online persona may become “outdated” or irrelevant if they cease to put up content on the platforms they reside in.
My Digital Engagement Map!
As you can see from my map, most of my engagement with the digital environment falls into the “visitor” category. I see these platforms as tools i need, to complete various tasks, seek information and to entertain myself. I don’t rely on them to build an audience, create content, and maintain a personal brand to rake in the ad revenues like these guys do! These “Residents”, content creators also known as “YouTubers” rely heavily on visibility on the web to put food on the table!
However i do understand the importance of being visible on the web in terms career development activities and attracting potential employers. As we complete this course, our internship and eventually gain full time employment, i expect my map to be different with new boxes popping up and existing ones shifting positions as well
Can the Visitor Resident Mapping Process be helpful in a business/marketing context?
It’s designed to help you explore and reflect upon how you engage with the digital environment and then investigate how your students/users/staff engage with what you provide
Is this mapping process useful in providing insight on how customers engage with products and services ? Where would this mapping process fit, in a sea of sophisticated CRM and Analytic software? Perhaps it is suitable for start ups who are bootstrapping? Maybe as a business you would invite your top spending customers to a mapping session, identify who the visitors and residents are, then perhaps adopt a transaction marketing approach to “visitors” and a relationship marketing approach to “residents” ? Sorry for providing more questions than answers! Thanks for reading! Please do comment too!
References
White, D., 2009. TALL blog Online education with the University of Oxford. [Online] Available at: http://tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk/index.php/2009/10/14/visitors-residents-the-video/[Accessed 27 11 2014].
White, D., 2013. TALL blog Online education with the University of Oxford. [Online] Available at: http://tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk/index.php/2013/06/05/vandrmapping/[Accessed 27 11 2014].
isaaclye 
Hello Isaac! 🙂 After reading your posts, I do have some views and questions to share with you. Here goes! 😀
I do agree that there is high importance on being visible on the web and how it will be beneficial to your future career pathway as well as attracting potential employers through your advanced digital skills set. These are only some of the advantages which we would be able to take away from through this module, #MANG2049.
From your digital engagement map, I see that most of your online social platforms fall closer to “Visitor” side of the map. Hence, have you ever considered moving on to being a “Resident” instead?
Through the first video, it is true that they are able to socialize online and ‘put food on the table’. However, personally I feel that they would lack the experience on face-to-face interaction with friends/family and lose touch on their own interpersonal skills gradually. Therefore, do you think there are downsides to being a “Resident”, who live most of their time on the web?
LikeLiked by 2 people
On a professional level, i have no issues on moving on to being a “Resident” should the job requires it. At a personal level however unless i feel i have something significant to contribute to the online communities im in, i would prefer taking a “Visitor” approach.
Studies do show that talking about our own thoughts and experience in online platforms produces dopamine. For me however, that dosage of dopamine has been rather small.
As for downsides of being a “Resident”, drawing from my example of “YouTubers” especially those who have a huge following, losing part of their privacy and being vulnerable to harsh and unfounded criticisms are a
couple of them
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello Isaac. Thank you for sharing your personal insights as well as some interesting ideas about digital residents and visitors. I like how you use the digital engagement map to help you see where you and your online activities stand in terms of the digital resident-visitor spectrum.
I think the Visitor Resident mapping process does provide the business some insight into customers’ behaviours with regards to the use of the internet but I think it is limited in helping businesses understand what drives their customers behaviours. It is also largely contextual, Pure brick-and-motar companies will probably not find such mapping useful as compared to their e-commerce counterparts.
Here’s a food for thought. While you mentioned that being visible on the web in terms of career development opportunities is important. How important do you think it is? Do you think it is more advantageous or disadvantageous for us?
LikeLiked by 2 people
On a scale of 1 to 10. I’d say at least a 6. Sites that help us gain visiblity on the web are powerful tools for us to connect to a potential employer, we just have to be aware of what we post. Images, videos, tweets, status updates or personal information can be shared with everyone. Share content that only showcases your professionalism i guess.
LikeLike