Month: October 2021

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 so many benefits to being diverse and inclusive when sharing on social media. When there is diversity and inclusion, so many more people get a chance to connect, discuss, and be heard on social media. Through inclusion and diversity, one is able to bring many different perspectives and opinions to the messages they are sending and receiving through social media. When you have a diverse group of people discussing a topic, you will be able to receive different ideas, problems, and opinions. Further, diversity and inclusion matter a lot to audiences who are reading your messages, and the community as a whole will respect your opinions and thoughts more if you are being more diverse and inclusive to everyone. One of the main benefits is that your PLN and messages will reach more people when you choose to be inclusive in your messaging strategy. 

Markiel Simpson discussed in the interview how every audience can see certain issues as different from others. The audience you are reaching on social media is always changing, sometimes you may be reaching politicians, friends, family, co-workers, people from different backgrounds, people who have different beliefs, and this alone is a reason for you to promote diversity and inclusion in your messaging on social media. By having a diverse and inclusive PLN, you are able to reach more people with different values and beliefs which is beneficial when trying to promote your PLN and your thoughts on a topic. The more people you reach, the more likelihood that people will see what you are discussing. 

Markiel further discussed how you need to network with all different people in order to build your network. He talked about all of the relationships he would never have had if it wasn’t for his twitter account. He actually doesn’t use his twitter as a personal page, but rather as a campaign that he uses to advocate for the things he believes are important. One area he focuses on is his #strongertogether hashtag, which is the campaign he has created on his twitter account. This not only reflects his importance and wants of his messages; it also allows other people to give their opinions and participate in his campaign by simply using a hashtag. I think this is a good promotion strategy to get his word out as well as reach a diverse number of individuals. 

Miller, J. (2021, June 1). EDCI-338 MARKIEL SIMPSON. YouTube.       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsoDHGaXNNs

 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)?

There are definitely many risks as well as benefits when you are engaging with the public in a media space. You are able to connect with so many different individuals when working with a public media space, which can lead to many positive relationships without even having to see people face to face. As Jesse mentioned in the video, it is a beneficial to be able to connect with people online without having to plan an in-person meeting. Jody Vance mentioned how creating connections with others is such a crucial piece when engaging with the public audience because you never know how much influence one person will have on your career. While there are a lot of benefits with engagement, there are also negatives that come with being public. You need to be extremely careful with what you are posting, who you are posting and what you are saying in those posts because as a public figure everything can be traced back to you and that can have negative consequences. As many have seen before on social media, when you are in a position of trust, people expect you to do no wrong and you can be criticized for everything you post, sometimes if you post something inappropriate you can also be penalized for it.

 How do notable individuals use social media?

Notable individuals use social media to promote themselves, to network themselves as well as promote their image. Further, they use their image for spreading awareness as well as advertising for companies they partner with. They are able to gain a lot of followers based on their image and publicity. When they are using social media, it is important for them to also ensure they are making positive posts and being careful what they post as their social media reflects their image. If they choose to post something that isn’t appropriate, it can completely affect their popularity and the image they have for themselves on social media. 

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

There are many benefits with being in the public eye is these individuals are able to easily promote themselves through their PLN. If you have a significant number of followers, you also are exposed to more opportunities as companies want to partner with you to do advertising. Not only can you promote companies, you can also promote things you are very passionate about which can lead to greater exposure. You are also able to gain many more connections with people when you have a large PLN in the public eye. 

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

A benefit of using online tools is that you can easily connect with employers for anything you need in just the touch of a button. It is also easier for employees in the workplace to connect with each other on a common platform and do not have to connect with their personal phone numbers or social media accounts if they are not comfortable with that. My workplace actually uses mattermost and it makes it a lot easier to connect with everyone on one app rather than trying to use many different platforms. One thing I do notice though is that there is not a lot of conversation that happens because everyone is in one chat and people do not feel comfortable talking in it. It can also be restricting if everyone is not competent in how to use the online tools and they are not able to see the messages or don’t look at them consistently which can lead to them not receiving important information. 

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

Everyone should be responsible for building their own PLN that they can rely on. When you are posting something, you should always ensure all of the information comes from a verified resource and it is in fact true information. Misinformation is spread through the media all of the time and that is due to people not verifying their resources before posting or reposting something. 

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

The way to minimize sharing misinformation is to just do a background check before you are posting to ensure all of the information is correct and relevant. It is also important to ensure you are reviewing and revising every post so that it is reliable information being shared. Sharing misinformation can also lead to other individuals thinking you are not a reliable and trustworthy source because you have shared something that was incorrect. 

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 crate a social media campaign leveraging your PLN

If I was creating a PLN prior to engaging in a social media campaign I would first look at the topic of choice and find my target audience that would be a part of my PLN. The target audience would include people who would be interested and passionate about my campaign. Next, I would use different types of social media to connect with the target audience as well as post promotions for my campaign. For example, If I wanted to do a social media campaign for the benefits of recreation activities for adults aged 25-55, I would first want to think about who my target audience would be. In this case the target audience would be the adults and I would then start to focus on the campaign itself and how I can reach these individuals. I could also partner up with some recreation facilities to promote this campaign and have other professionals work with me. I would begin by making infographics or posters that can be shared both on social media as well as printed and posted around the city. I would post these in areas where my target audience would see, such as recreation facilities, grocery stores, café’s etc and ensure my social media accounts are shown on these posters to allow for people who see them to follow the accounts. By posting my posters in different areas of town, it will help further the reach of my campaign and get more people interested in my campaign. I would then begin connecting with people and sharing on social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. I would encourage individuals who are a part of the PLN or interested in my campaign to share my posts so it can reach more people. I could also have different recreation facilities post about my campaign and also get a hashtag going on Instagram and twitter. By sharing information both on social media and in stores, it allows for a more diverse group of people to see the campaign as not everyone necessarily has social media and will see it on there. 

How diverse is your existing PLN?

I think my PLN is quite diverse as I have many different kinds of social media, and each of them connects me with different people for different reasons. When it comes to my personal life, I connect with family and friends through Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. This is where I post my more personal things for a select number of people to be able to see. Next, I also have my professional PLN which I believe is much more diverse. I use LinkedIn for this and my connections on here are much more diverse then on my personal network. I connect with various groups of people from all different ages, genders, occupations, backgrounds, and world views. Since my account is public, many different people are able to see it, follow me or comment on my posts which also makes it more diverse. Lastly, I have my workplace PLN where my managers, bosses and co-workers can see and comment on what I post. 

In your PLN, are you learning from a variety of voices or are you the loudest in the room?

I personally like to listen and read what other people are saying especially in my workplace and professional PLN. I am not the type of person that is going to actively comment and give my opinion on others posts. I will for sure read them and think about what they are saying and what my opinion is, but I will rarely actually post or comment about it. I enjoy being in the background and learning from all of these different people, without actively engaging in the conversations. 

Do you participate in a silo of information sharing (similar themes or wide range of interests)?

I usually also do not participate in silo information sharing. I do read all of the information, but I usually do not share or post it, as I like to keep very neutral on social media. I think for me it’s important to keep neutral and not share a ton of information therefore I can always have an open mind when I read or see posts. 

How can you use a diverse PLN to broaden your views of inclusion?

I think having a diverse PLN can be a huge factor in your views of inclusion. If an individual has a very close-knit PLN that shares many of the same values, they will not benefit from looking at different views. Across the world, there are an abundance of different worldviews, opinions and thoughts and if you are able to connect with different people and broaden your PLN, it will allow you to be more inclusive. By looking at other people’s perspectives from another culture or another country, you will be able to understand and broaden your opinions therefore becoming more inclusive to other people’s thoughts. 

 In your professional setting of choice, do you think inclusion is actively embraced?

I chose to discuss healthcare in Canada as my professional setting, specifically long-term care facilities. I believe inclusion is actively embraced in this setting because no matter who you are, where you lived and how much money you make, you can be placed in care when you need it. Majority of individuals who live in care have their expenses subsidized by the government. Further, some facilities will take 70% of whatever amount of money the individual is making in a month which means whether you make a lot of money or not you will still be able to get the care you need. This makes the facilities very inclusive to everyone. 

What is the learning outcome of your PLN and how are you ensuring your exposure to diversity and inclusion?

I think the learning outcome of my PLN is to learn about areas I wouldn’t normally engage with. For example, when I am scrolling through Pinterest looking for a craft to make, or something to cook or bake, I always try to look at a variety of different people’s posts. This allows me to view different backgrounds, cultures, people, ages and see the differences in the things they make. Further, I like to try searching and exposing myself to a very diverse network of people therefore I can learn things from them and try their recipes or their crafts. Learning and using other individuals’ ideas from different backgrounds or cultures all across the world allows me to be more inclusive and try new things. 

How has your thinking about inclusion and PLN evolved after reviewing the videos and readings?

I think my understanding on inclusion has improved after reviewing the videos and readings. One thing that really stood out to me in the reading was how when it comes to inclusion, there is no “other”, and everyone is diverse in their own ways. This stood out to me because usually when I think of inclusion, I think of the special education initiative where we are including people who are different and not acknowledging how we are all in fact different from each other. I really liked the way she created a new model showing that everyone was different and that was the real definition of inclusion.