Blog #4

• How do notable individuals use social media?

Individuals use social media to share their thoughts, ideas, information and most importantly create communities and build connections. Notable individuals are individuals that are important figures to society, and they use social media to keep them relevant, self-promote as it is one of the most effective ways to do so.

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

The benefits of being in the public eye through having a personal learning network is being able to embrace your authenticity and to create connections with like-minded and diverse individuals. It helps employers have an insight to whom they are hiring solely based on their internet search, through blogs, communities, and social media activities. Notable individuals being in the public eye comes with some benefits as they are more likely to come across great opportunities and most importantly when they want to speak about topics that means something to them, they bring more awareness to it. A great example is the Palestinian-Dutch model Bella Hadid she continues to speak and raise awareness for Palestinians on Instagram and is vocal with her viewpoints on Muslims society’s.

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

The perceived benefits that can help when building an online community through an employer has benefits but more often is limited. Some benefits may include employers have insight on their targeted audience needs which increases and improves customer loyalty. A restriction may include the limitation of what you can post on the company’s  social media platforms.

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

It is important to develop relationships with trustworthy and verifiable resources. It is critial to create connections with people you know are that are always trustworthy and are not just telling you lies and giving you incorrect information. To make your PLN reliable and verifiable, you must first establish a good reputation by connecting with others who are reliable and verifiable.

• How do those, who are veteranstorytellers, minimize the risk of sharing misinformation?

Minimizing risk in misinformation sharing is related to the concept of having reliable and verifiable resources within your PLN. It is critical for an individual to ensure that they are not simply spreading their beliefs and false facts when they should be sharing reliable information. A good way to reduce the risk of spreading misinformation is to ensure that your own resources and sources are reliable, as well as having a publicist or other individual go over and edit their work.

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

Every individual who uses social media platforms will receive negative responses and critiques at some point. How we respond to these responses and critiques reveals a lot about ourselves. Personally, I believe it is more effective not to respond to such responses and critiques, or to respond kindly and politely if you do. I believe that responding negatively or inconsiderately is terrible and reflects poorly on yourself and your employer. It is a waste of time, and it is preferable for individuals to try to ignore it and move on.

Reference:

Hirst, M. Navigating Social Journalism. New York, Taylor & Francis, 2019.