Month: November 2021

Talk about the guest and their steps in building a podcast relying on a PLN.

Mo Amir began his podcast as a hobby and had no prior skillset in using social media platforms (Twitter and LinkedIn) and had started his podcast and gained a following through his real-world connections and related networking opportunities within Vancouver. After picking up speed he started posting more on Twitter and stayed true to who he was through his posts and from there his podcast really began to take-off as he was able to reach online communities that he had once been closed off to. This ties into the concept of connectivism as the ability to reach new groups over twitter helped to further establish Mo Amir’s podcast and help to build his following.

Can your PLN be used to help professional development post-course? If yes, how? If no, what limitations exist?

Yes, my PLN can help me further my professional development post-course by helping keep me up to date with the various advances in healthcare and healthcare technologies that are at the center of Health Informatics. By following leaders in this field, I’m able to keep my knowledge regarding health technologies current. I’m also able to sit in on online seminars with guest speakers and learn new things based off of their personal experiences of working in healthcare and health informatics.

Can your PLN be relied on to open professional opportunities?

My PLN has opened the door to new career opportunities. I’ve already established a diverse PLN on LinkedIn and am able to use that network to find new jobs or internships at various health authorities by giving me the means to contact and be reached easily by hiring managers. Over time as I gain new connections and further build my network my PLN will become that much more reliable in keeping myself open to new professional opportunities.

Explore the video provided and reflect on the themes of a PLN in a professional capacity.

Brad Baker goes into detail on the many ways a PLN can be utilized in a professional capacity to your own benefit. I found that the most important aspect he mentioned was how your PLN acts a support system for you to further your own well-being if you engage in healthy, respectful dialogue with your peers. A PLN gives you access to an outlet where you are able to express yourself and get your opinions across to people who will actually take the time to digest what you are saying and engage with you in a respectful discussion. That being said there is also room for criticisms within that dialogue as your PLN should challenge you to a degree so that you are able to benefit by actively learning from those in your network.

Which social media platforms are beneficial in education?

Personally, I would say that social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, and Google are beneficial in education. Many classrooms utilize twitter to connect with students/parents outside of the classroom through posting reminders and having class discussions through the platform. YouTube can provide great supplementary lessons for students as there is a wealth of knowledge that is made available to teachers and students. Prevalent YouTube channels that have helped me in my studies are “The Organic Chemistry Tutor” and “Khan Academy” which have helped me in areas where I may need some extra guidance or clarification on a specific topic. Google classroom in particular is a great resource for teachers in lesson planning and delivering educational materials for students as it allows for easy access to those materials at any time as everything is hosted online and is cloud based (integrated with Google Drive).

Consider the equality that exists when all have the same platform to engage community dialogues.

When everyone has access to the same platform it results in there being equal opportunity across the board for participation in discussions, access to educational materials, and other educational/professional opportunities. It also facilitates the sharing of discussions as well as there are those who may be afraid/less-inclined to speak their minds in a classroom setting and may be more comfortable with contributing in an open-forum environment for example.

What are the benefits of a diverse and inclusive PLN in social media sharing that understands where you are coming from with messaging that impacts the community?

Having a diverse and inclusive PLN lets you gain perspective on the different perspectives, beliefs, and opinions of individuals within your community. This allows for you to gauge the needs of your community and help to inform your decisions on what to post/message, leading to an overall positive impact on the community. A diverse and inclusive PLN is also a direct reflection on your character based on who you choose to surround yourself with, this creates an opportunity to speak up for individuals who may have otherwise felt uncomfortable doing so due to keeping an inclusive mindset.

Markiel Simpson was able to leverage their network into a campaign for the NDP nomination in the Burnaby North-Seymour riding. Through sharing his unique life experiences and ideologies that stem from his upbringing and life experience on social platforms like Twitter he amassed a following of individuals who resonated with the information he was sharing. By doing this in an authentic manner he was able to establish a diverse and inclusive PLN and use that as a jumping off point for his campaign by establishing himself as a voice for the underrepresented in our communities.

Identify the risks and benefits of engaging with a public audience in a media space. What are the risks for a public figure or person in a position of trust (educator, lawyer, government official)?

The benefits of engaging with a public audience in a media space are numerous, Jody Vance goes on to say that this allows for connections to grow with your audience as openness leads to an increase in mutual understanding. This also opens the door for support from your audience as well as helping you to establish new professional contacts, growing your future opportunities that are made available. The risks associated with this is that you have to be very conscious of what you post as whatever information you choose to share is open to criticism from every angle and as such you should screen your posts to make certain you do not place yourself in a compromising position. If you don’t take measures in screening what you post and you’re a public figure/person in a position of trust you risk losing credibility and there’s also the possibility of souring your public image (e.g., when celebrities get ‘cancelled’ for off-color tweets that get brought up from the past).

How to best address negative replies and critiques reflective of your personal values and employer social media policy?

I feel that the best way to address negativity and criticism directed at your posts is to not respond as in most cases the reason for ‘pushback’ on your posts/online activity is to get a reaction out of you. Similar to how paparazzi act as instigators towards celebrities in order to get a reaction out of them for the shock-value headlines. However, it is a good practice to be aware of critiques that are more substantial and are made in good faith as they are opportunities for growth. If you shut out all forms of criticism you remove any opportunity for growth in your page and end up creating an echo-chamber where you only hear what you want to hear.

How do notable individuals use social media?

Notable individuals use social media for growing their own personal brands, an example of this would be any professional athlete. If you have a large following on a social media platform like Instagram it’s much easier to get a paid sponsorship from a notable sport affiliated brand (i.e., Nike, Adidas, Puma, etc.) as a form of supplemental income. Public/Government officials and celebrities use social media for promotional purposes as well as public outreach in bringing awareness to prevalent social issues that affect the general public.

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

The main benefit of being in the public eye and having a PLN is that it offers you many more opportunities to grow your PLN through contacts made from the public interacting with your online activities. You would also be in a better position to raise awareness for issues/topics that are important to you as it would be much easier to reach out to the public.

Building community with online tools provided by the employer can be limiting, what are the perceived restrictions and benefits?

The biggest restriction associated with using online tools provided by an employer is that there is no semblance of privacy as all of your activities using these provided tools can be easily monitored. This results in individuals placing self-imposed censors on what they choose to share, stopping them from saying what they really feel. This stifles creativity in the workplace and can result in ideas being regurgitated as they would fit the established status quo. A benefit of using online tools provided by an employer is that there is no extra work needed to grow a community as you are folded into the existing workplace community, this makes interoffice communications and idea sharing more streamlined/ideal.

Delivering information in a connected society requires verifiable resources, how to build a PLN to rely on?

In order to build a PLN with information you can rely on you have to first be proactive in fact checking any posts and statements you make so that you don’t end up making a blanket generalization that is inaccurate or rooted in bias/prejudice. Essentially just be sure that the information that you are sharing has a reliable source otherwise it may be damaging to your image and your PLN (i.e., lead by example).

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

They are able to minimize risk through verifying the information they share with primary sources (first-hand accounts) to ensure that there is no ‘watering-down’ of the truth.

How would you create a PLN prior to engaging a social media campaign on a topic of your choice? Choose a topic, consider your audiences, and consider how you would create a social media campaign leaving your PLN. 

My topic of choice would have to be a fitness/nutrition centered social media campaign. Prior to launching the social media campaign, I would place my focus on creating a social media presence tailored to fitness on Instagram and/or TikTok by interacting with similar content creators through community engagement on their posts by leaving likes and comments. I feel that these platforms would be best suited for fitness/nutrition content as there are already many established ‘influencers’ who have tailored their online presence around this topic. That way I’m able to see what content is already prevalent within the community and figure out what niche my page would satisfy and tailor my page accordingly. I’d also grow my network through reaching out to similar content creators and sharing their posts and leaving comments on what catches my interest. After curating my online presence on these social media platforms, I would then begin posting content at a scheduled time (i.e., a set number of posts a week, somewhere between 3-5) in order to maintain community engagement rather than drop 20 posts in a day and repeat that once a month. This would help keep in keeping my page relevant over time and hopefully as a result grow my page.