Blog Post 9
Prompts
- How does a PLN help and hinder the development of thoughts and ideas in public discourse – especially when addressing our differences?
- How can a PLN be curated to minimize bias and expand knowledge of the lives of others?
- How does the identity of who you are, fit into your PLN?
- Do you include professional and personal boundaries?
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
In week ten, we discussed mainly about PLN and community communications. From the conversation between Professor Miller and Harrison Mooney, he described that social media played a quite important and meaningful role in helping people connect to “the larger zeitgeist, to the larger culture, and the dialogue surrounding blackness” (2020). Also, as Harrison Mooney stated, social media can help him connect with other thinkers directly and make him find that a lot of the stuff he think is unique to him (2020). Therefore, in my opinion, a PLN can help the development of our thoughts and ideas in public discourse, especially when addressing our differences because it not only helps us build a strong connection with other people, but also help us find a larger online community so that we will learn from other people’s thoughts.
In my opinion, in order to minimize bias and expand knowledge of the lives of others, it will be effective to curate a diverse PLN. A diverse PLN can not only broaden my views and ideas, but also allows me to share with other people and learn from other people who have different backgrounds or cultures with me. Also, based on my personal experience, getting information from a diverse PLN can also help to reduce bias from news or information. From our reading material, “Social Media: Communication, Sharing and Visibility”, Meikle states that “a major international study published in 2015 found that 41% of online news users across the countries surveyed used Facebook as a source of news” (Meikle, 2016). In my opinion, getting news or information from a diverse PLN can help us better expand our knowledge and reduce biased information.
For me, I use different social media tools or different accounts on the same tool to make my digital identity fit into my PLN. For example, some social media tools, such as Instagram and WeChat, focus more on showing my personal presences and online identity. I use the kind of online tools to share my personal lives and experience with my friends and family. However, other social media tools like LinkedIn and Zoom focus more on professional identity, so I use them to share information in relation to my study or work, showcase my professional portfolios and connect with my classmates or group members online.
I think I include my professional and personal boundaries in my PLN. By using my social media tools, I always share my personal experience and ideas positively, connect with other people clearly, and learn from others directly. Also, I try to respect to all the comments that I receive and understand that people who have different backgrounds will have different ideas, reflections, and experience.
References
Miller, J. (2020). EDCI 338 A01 – Harrison Mooney. YouTube. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elKNQpz0RrI&feature=youtu.be
Meikle, G (2016). Social Media: Communication, Sharing and Visibility. Chapter 4. Retrieved from: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315884172/chapters/10.4324/9781315884172-10
Hi there,
Great post this week. I liked that you brought up different kinds of social media platforms to discuss sharing personal and professional identities. I had said in my post that it’s about balance, but I liked your point about having different identities on different platforms. I agree that Instagram can be a much more personal platform where you share your personal thoughts and interests, whereas LinkedIn is a much more professional platform where you would share less of your personal identity.
Erica