Social media can help community-based communication become more efficient because it can reach audiences without the time and physical space’s limitation. Moreover, social media can help government departments to establish authority and engage people into open conversation. The challenge is that it is difficult to open to strangers to some people; talk to others online and speak face-to-face can be very different (Kermer, 2020).
There are cultural sensitivity factors that should be considered since messages to different culture groups might be different. Moreover, communication across different culture groups can also be different. Therefore, using different communication styles and social media platform is necessary (Russell, 2020).
Through social media and communication tools, I think the most important thing a person should show is that he or she can be trusted by others. PLN is a place for a person to establish connections that can help for future learning and career, and if the person cannot be trusted, people would not give the helps that a person needs for the future.
From the perspective of balancing professional expectations and personal beliefs about career development, I think the most basic rule is that no one wants to be used by others like a tool. Building a PLN should not purely aim at establishing leverage to benefit one’s future. Establishing a trustful relationship and enjoying this process of making friends is as important as thinking about getting help when needed. Moreover, a person can be a good listener to build PLN, and he or she is not necessarily to be the loudest person in the room (Kermer, 2020).
I do believe that the internet is a useful tool where people can discover lots of information about one’s digital identity if they intend to. Therefore, not everyone can become one’s PLN connections, but being honest and give other people more information about oneself can be a way to meet communication expectations. Since it is difficult to set a clear boundary between personal and professional relationship, a person can choose to use personal social media to connect and establish PLN, so others could see who this person is and what this person believe in (Russell, 2020).
References
Kermer, A. (2020). EDCI 338 A01 – KERMER, A. YouTube. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73KOxy_fMSM&feature=youtu.be
Russell, M. (2020). EDCI 338 A01 – RUSSELL, M. YouTube. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH_UiTWYYwU&feature=youtu.be