Month: November 2020 (page 1 of 1)

Reflect on your experience in the course, your development of a PLN, your use of social media platforms and networked publics, share any changes in your perspective of social media in professional settings and personal use. Do you continue with your created content and your network? How do you use your skills in professional practice?

This course has taught me a lot about the social media world and the importance of a PLN. Prior to the course, I only thought a professional platform like LinkedIn could be used as a PLN in order to network, learn from others, and find jobs, but I was proved wrong as there are so many more services out there to be utilized. I discovered how to create a successful PLN through managing my account, engaging my audience, enhancing my digital identity/presence, including more diversity and inclusion, and the importance of privacy and security concerns that can rise. Watching the weekly guest speaker videos provided me with a lot of useful insight and opened my eyes to how social media can be used to bring communities together, give a voice to people who may not have one, advance through different careers, and engage with people from all over the world with different educational backgrounds, genders, and ethnicities. All the knowledge I have gained in this course will be used in not only my professional endeavours, but also my personal ones.  Overall, I had a great experience with EDCI 338 and the valuable knowledge I gained from the course.

Can your PLN be used to help professional development post-course?

A PLN is such a powerful tool that can be used to help develop an individual’s professional presence. You are able to connect with people that have similar interests in your field in order to engage and reach out to them. By doing this, you are able to network with others and learn from their knowledge as well as pass on your knowledge to them.

Can your PLN be relied on to open professional opportunities and on which platform does your emerging expertise get good exposure?

Yes, a PLN can be relied on to open professional opportunities anywhere in the world. I would say that LinkedIn is a great platform to showcase your experience and expertise as it allows people to search for your specific skills. This can open up job opportunities and different career paths. You are also able to connect with old coworkers and stay in touch with them.

Can you leverage your PLN in future endeavours?

Most definitely! I think that having a PLN can really help you with future career opportunities and expanding your network. As Amber said from this weeks video, she was able to move through different career paths by networking with individuals who were able to pass on knowledge to her (2020). A PLN can be used to connect you with people from across the world, with different educational backgrounds and expertise. You are able to “promote” yourself on a PLN in order to attract attention and engagement from fellow peers

With consideration to the reading and video interview, how do you ensure that you expand your PLN via social media platforms into spaces that may be outside of your comfort zone?

It can definitely be a scary and anxious feeling and experience of expanding your PLN into different social media spaces as you are not aware of what you might get out of it and what people may think of you (Glauser, 2020). At the end of the day, you should just go for it and all though there will be people who may not favor/like you as Amber said, you should still keep grinding and building your PLN (2020).

References:

Glauser, A. (2020, November 15). EDCI 338 A01 – Glauser, Amber. EDCI_338 YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/RiWaXNfnHAg

Community communications go beyond blogs and social media shares, how does a PLN help and hinder the development of thoughts and ideas in public discourse – especially when addressing our differences?

A PLN does a great job at uniting people from across the world, from different backgrounds and cultures. This gives people the opportunity to easily connect with one another and engage in meaningful conversations and ways (Mooney, 2020). People are able to gain knowledge from different perspectives and learn about all the differences in the world (2020). On the other hand, a PLN can also hinder public discourse. People tend to be attracted to things that they are more likely to agree with, therefore when individuals are not open minded and fail to acknowledge and listen to others from different perspectives, they become stuck in this bubble of their own (2020). As a result, we are becoming encamped inside polarized groups that fit our preferences only and we then become blind to the opinions, ideas, perspectives, and views of others.

How can a PLN be curated to minimize bias and expand knowledge of the lives of others?

As Harrison Mooney said in this week’s video, curating is always a great way to reduce bias and expand your social network (Mooney, 2020). This can be easily done by adding voices that challenge you and suggest things you may have not thought about (2020). You can unfollow people that may not bring much value to you, as Harrison did with hockey players, and instead begin to follow people from more diverse backgrounds and cultures in order to begin understanding their side of life and the challenges they face (2020). In addition, applying ethics of visibility to social networks allows you to become more conscious of the way we make others visible and account of other people’s rights and opinions in order to learn and grow from them (Meikle, n.d., p. 92).

How does the identity of who you are, fit into your PLN?

Each individual person has their own identity and that’s what makes the world such a cool place. From my personal experience with my PLN, I enjoy showcasing the things I am passionate about and what I want to learn and give to others. Since my degree in Health Information Science is part of my identity, I lean more towards following people in that field in order to gain knowledge, ideas, and different opinions. Having your own identity helps you curate your PLN and find a pathway towards engaging with individuals that have similar interests and passions or even people you may not have anything in common about.

Do you include professional and personal boundaries?

Absolutely. On my PLN I strictly like to keep it for my professional career and endeavours as I am conscious that future employers may search for my name one day. I also try to keep this in mind when I am using my personal social media as I’m not the type of person to share everything online and therefore I try to keep it more private.

References:

Mooney, H. (2020, November 8). EDCI 338 A01 – Harrison Mooney. EDCI_338 YouTube. Retrieved from EDCI 338 A01 – HARRISON MOONEY

Meikle, G. (n.d.). Social Media Communication, Sharing and Visibility | Chapter 4 Convergence and the Limits of Citizen Journalism. Retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315884172/chapters/10.4324/9781315884172-10

How do notable individuals use social media?

Notable individuals use their personal platforms to raise awareness for the things that truly matter to them and promote positivity around the world. Despite the fact that social media can be extremely “self-promotional and weird”, verified users are discovering new ways to use their fame to lead to positive change and motivate others to fight the good fight (Blickley, 2015). These notable individuals have a large audience of people that may really look up to them and by using their platform to bring about good change and awareness on important topics, it only increases the positive use of social media.

What are the benefits of being in the public eye and having a PLN?

Some of the benefits of being in the public eye and having a PLN for career development include the ability to expand your audience and platform to showcase your skills and knowledge out into the work force. Social media has a compounding effect. Your posts can be shared repeatedly, expanding your search beyond your own personal and professional networks. The growth of the internet and social media has made it easy for job seekers and employers to look for prospects in social media platforms. This can be used to your advantage by promoting yourself out to companies that align with your interests, passions, and beliefs. Social media is full of people with diverse skills, knowledge, and experience in different fields. Interaction with the right individuals can guarantee you both personal and career growth. Being in the public eye allows you to establish new connections within your area of specialization, connect with them, and share your knowledge and wisdom.

Building community with online tools provided by the employer can be limiting, what are the perceived restrictions and benefits of having social media directly associated with employment?

As stated by Sophie Lui from this week’s video, having social media directly associated to employment can have its ups and downs. There is a higher chance of a verified user being targeted with criticism, hate, and unlawful behaviour due to their larger platform and high number of followers. On the other hand, the benefits that it brings is the bigger and more impactful voice individuals have when they have such a big audience. In addition, when users are looking for future career positions, it is much easier to be able to connect and engage with others that are of interest.

Delivering information in a connected society requires verifiable resources, how does one build a PLN that can be consistently relied on?

Ways in which an individual can build a reliable PLN is through expertise, invitational rhetoric, and trustworthiness (Kim, 2016). Vendors and key stakeholders want the ability to engage and interact with individuals that have expertise in which they are looking for (2016). By promoting yourself in a professional matter and sharing things on social media that can back up your expertise and passions, it only improves your PLN and credibility. Another way to be reliable on social media is by always engaging with your audience, whether that be replying to comments, questions, or direct messages (2016). Social media audiences are always wanting to sustain a two-way dialogue with intent to listen, respond and incorporate the publics’ comments. By failing to respond and engage with others, it does far more damage than breaking down lines of communication. It can destroy the perception of the individual’s credibility. Trustworthiness is also a huge determining factor in whether an individual’s PLN is reliable (2016). It is important for you to be honest, transparent and reliable on social media.

How do those, who are veteran story tellers, minimize risk in sharing misinformation?

I think a couple of ways that one can minimize the risk of sharing misinformation is by trusting the source, not the sharer. It is found that individuals are more attentive to the sharer than to the original source of an article (O’Conner & Weatherall, 2019). Reputable news sources are the most trustworthy as they have fact checkers employed and strong incentives to report facts accurately (2019). Another way to combat sharing misinformation is by avoiding or fighting confirmation bias (2019). People tend to trust evidence that confirms beliefs they already hold and ignore evidence that pushes against these beliefs. If individuals find themselves only trusting and sharing things that they already believed, that may be an indicator that they are falling into the confirmation bias trap (2019). Lastly, read and share science journalism that covers a whole literature, not a single study (2019). An entire body of evidence that has been gathered by many scientists is less likely to be misleading (2019).

References:

Blickley, L. (2015). How Celebreties Are Using Social Media In A More Positive & Passionate Way. HUFFPOST. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/celebrities-social-media-for-good_n_6979790?ri18n=true

Kim, M. C. (2016). Four Ways to Gain Credibility in Social Media. Institute for Public Relations. Retrieved from https://instituteforpr.org/four-ways-to-gain-credibility-in-social-media/

O’Conner, C., & Weatherall, O. J. (2019). Six Tips for Avoiding Misinformation on Social Media. Yale University Press Blogs. Retrieved from http://blog.yalebooks.com/2019/03/15/six-tips-for-avoiding-misinformation-on-social-media/