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?
There are many benefits of a diverse and inclusive social media. I am in a Facebook group for UVic students graduating in 2022. Within the chat, people ask about classes, community and advice. People ask about easy electives that can guide other students pick classes. This allows more experienced students to help newer students in the community. Also, the group allows people to find others in the same classes that can lead to study groups and further friendships. This can help out people in the community as well as make potential friends.
How does social media engage communications?
Social media engages communication based off shared interests. On Facebook, there are public group pages that anyone can join. People join based off shared interest towards the topic. This allows people to engage in conversation and ideas when the group all has the same interest. For example, my friend is into cars. He joined a car group on Facebook where they can share their car, look at others cars and arrange meet ups. At the car meet up, people can engage with others and build relationships. At first I thought the group was more to see others cars, but my friend made real friends through the process of Facebook groups. They call their group “Delta Car Community.”
How does social media challenge communications?
Social media engages people to communicate but also creates challenges. Social media can challenge communication because of the wide range of opinions from a diverse culture. For example, since Facebook groups can be public, anyone can join. This means people who support and are interested in the topic as well as people who dislike the topic and want to share their side. Conflict of interest creates debates that anyone can join because it is public. Also, people feel more comfortable sharing their opinions behind a screen where nobody can see them. This aspect can cause cyberbullying, hate, and other negative comments while being anonymous.
Is it inclusive?
Facebook groups are inclusive if public, but exclusive if private. Some groups are private but expect anyone who requests to join like the “Victoria Aritzia sell and trade.” This group chat is private to ensure the people in the group chat are wanting to buy or sell Aritzia clothing. Most interest based groups are open for the public to see and comment on, allowing for inclusion and diversity. However, people use facebook groups as a way to communicate with a certain group. For example, my sports team used facebook to communicate. This group was exclusive and only had the members of our team (cover photo).
Does your PLN amplify the views of others?
My PLN considers others views at all times but does not amplify them. I would never post anything that may offend or make people uncomfortable. Personally, my Instagram consists of my friends and I to avoid conflict of opinions. I would not follow certain people like Trump, has he has many negative aspects in his opinion. Others can see who an individual follows, likes, and comments on. Thus, I am aware on who to follow and what to like. However, Mattermost has improved my PLN where I am able to share my opinions. I try and use the group chat as much as possible to help out my classmates and respond to them. Lately, my blog posts have been based off my personal experiences to allow the best understanding for the viewers. Moreover, this blog post and readings showed me the importance of amplify the views of others. Moving forward, I will aim to enlarge the views of others within my social media. This will help raise attention to Capital power from having more voices towards a subject. Overall, my PLN always considers other people and I value the views of others.
How to better use social media to Build PLN – Influencers & Commentators
If I became an influencer, I would use TikTok as my main way to spread the word. TikTok is popular in adolescent years as well as adulthood. I would take advantage of the large target population and create videos for whatever I am advertising. TikToks can be shared, liked, commented, and duetting. This means the video has the ability for a large audience. Coordination is important to stay reliable. By providing tools like TikTok, engages people in participation. It is also important to have a committed staff to make the media dependable and familiar.
References
Miller, Jessie. (2021). 02-22 Markiel Simpson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCSpm1Lx8-A&feature=youtu.be
Hello Rianne! My PLN also helped me become updated on what is happening in the university. At first, I was curious on how the online classes will take place so I started asking my former classmates about the current set-up for the online class. It is a good thing that I was able to find the right people who explained to me everything that I need to know about online classes.