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When people talk about the benefits of social media, majority would actually come-up with a long list of its advantages. Just as Sophie Liu shared in the video interview, back then, they would use brick phones, real phonebooks, and yellow pages if they wanted to connect with someone (Miller, 2020). With respect to today’s scenario, everything can be found in Google and it is easy to connect with people via Twitter or other Social Media. However, even if PLN can be beneficial to public figures, it also has its downsides. In the case of Sophie Liu, there were instances when she will receive letters, or receive phone calls from viewers (Miller, 2020). My personal take on this one is that, the public could easily connect with public personalities because their information is readily found online. For this reason, public figures find it hard to live a normal life once they are done with their duty. Aside from invasion of privacy, public figures are also prone to fake news. Fake news is intentionally fabricated to mislead the audience (Allcott & Gentzkow, 2017 cited in Hirst 2019). In the case of public figures, malicious people use fake news to discredit them.

Nevertheless, even if using Social Media has negative effects, this does not mean that public personalities like news reporters and government officials should not use it at all. For news reporters, they could use social media for exposure. More so, being in the public eye will also help them be recognized by people and having the right PLN will help them to be in touch with the right people. In the case of government officials, they could use Social Media for official announcements and dissemination of information. On the other hand, public figures just have to remember that they need to observe some restrictions. For instance, if they are using verified accounts due to employment, they should make it a point that the content of their posts and comments will not harm the image of their employee, does not contain foul language, and most importantly, not some kind of fake news.

Fake news is no longer new; it just happened that with social media, it can spread like a wildfire in seconds. To deal with fake news, Hirst (2019) suggested that Media Literacy shall be promoted. Media Literacy refers to the act of critically evaluating, create, or manipulate media. Promoting media literacy will prevent people from believing whatever they see online. More so, on the side of content creators, if they know what Media Literacy is, they will create contents that are not just consistent but also reliable. In this regard, it is important to point out that veteran story tellers minimize the risk of sharing misinformation through cross checking and cross referencing. This means that if their different sources say the same thing, then there is chance that that certain information is true. Social media users can apply this strategy too. If they have read a certain news, they should consider checking other news sites before they believe that a certain information is valid and reliable.

References

Hirst, M. (2018). The political economy of fake news. In Navigating social journalism: A handbook for media literacy and citizen journalism. Routledge.

Miller, J. (2020, December). EDCI 338 A01: Lui, Sophie [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T4jOdKd12I&feature=youtu.be

As digital learner and consumer, I can confidently say that podcast is not a new thing for me. I listen to podcast when travelling and sometimes when waiting in line. It keeps me entertained and for me, listening to podcasts is another learning opportunity. However, I have never really considered the idea that I could create my own podcast. It is true that am interested in creating blogs and I actually considered the idea that maybe I could also try creating vlogs or educational videos, but podcast? It never really occurred to me. For this reason, I really enjoyed watching the conversation between Professor Jesse and Mo Amir of Vancolour. The video made me realize that creating networks is necessary whenever you wanted to put a content in the digital world. I also found this week’s readings helpful for it allowed me to discover how I can specifically build my own PLN.

If I were to create a PLN prior to building a podcast, the first thing that I will do is to create a Twitter account that is exclusively created for my podcast’s PLN. In the video, Mo Amir mentioned that Twitter allowed him to directly connect with local journalists and media people (EDCI 338, 2020). In the same manner, I will use Twitter to connect with people who also created their independent podcast. Once I am connected with them, I will ask them questions with regard to putting up an independent podcast and how I could maintain it. Just as Woods (2013) explained, “PLN is an informal group of people who you learn things from on a regular basis.” This means that in creating my PLN, I would like to create a network of people who could help me learn the ins and outs of podcast. I will not jump into promoting my podcast right away especially that I have not aired any episodes yet. Once I learned the ins and outs of podcasts, the next thing that I will do is check the trending topics and follow Mo Amir’s advice to choose a topic that is close to my heart (EDCI 338, 2020). Once I have decided the topic of my podcast episode, I will check Twitter’s L&D community. Woods (2013) explained that through this community, I will be able to connect with various experts. Correspondingly, I could ask for the experts’ help in developing the content of my podcast. Lastly, I will use Twitter to follow people who might be interested in the content of my podcast through searching my topic in Twitter.

With regard to privacy/security concerns, I will make it a point to not follow the people who provided little to no information about themselves. If they are experts or professionals, they could at least provide the organization or institution that they are affiliated with. On the other hand, if the Twitter account is verified, the institutions that a certain Twitter user was affiliated with is indicated in the Twitter user’s profile, and the Twitter user is not following a shady group of people, then that means that it is safe to follow those Twitter accounts. It is necessary to double check the legitimacy of Twitter accounts because a lot of people use the names of famous people so they could have a lot of followers.

References

EDCI 338. (2020, October 10). EDCI 338 – A01 building a podcast [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyODAhviQyA

Woods, B. (2013). Building your own PLN: seeking new insights and ideas? Expand your personal learning network. T+D, 67(11). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A348998538/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=ITBC&xid=9daf4a31