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.