In today’s world, social media has become a part of our life where we cannot live without. The most important thing I learned during this term is that social media, especially Twitter, can be a platform not only for entertainment but also for establishing PLN. People can use the digital visitor and resident model to position a social media account and develop a professional network by leaving online footprints. That is, a person can actually learn from his or her social network as a lifelong learner, and these connections can benefit a person in the perspective of a future career.
It is difficult to separate personal and professional life completely. However, a person’s identity is composed by both personal and professional life which demonstrates who the person really is. That is, regardless of the boundary between personal and professional life, establishing a desirable digital identity is the most important thing to maintain a PLN. Being a digital leader does not mean a person needs to direct others on what to do, and it is a transformation from “I” to “We” where a person becomes authentic (Qualman, 2012). We do not have to be the loudest person in the platform, but we could show others what we believe in and create a trustable personal image.
However, establishing digital identity in PLN rises an issue that needs to be solved. People tend to be friends with others who agree with their ideas or similar to them. As a result, the established PLN might only have one type of voice which might also be a bias. Therefore, we should be aware of our own weaknesses and have people who can challenge our ideas in the PLN. Moreover, we should have the awareness to push ourselves to get out of our comfort zone, so we can learn new knowledge and see things from different perspectives. That is, we should have an open mind and not to refuse other’s ideas.
In addition, when running a professional PLN, we should focus on principles of simplify, true, action, map and people (Qualman, 2012). Media literacy is the medium of delivering messages which means that to deliver a message, content creators should choose the appropriate communication methods to promote their work (Trilling & Fadel, 2009). I think knowing more about media literacy would benefit me in the future, and I intend to do more research on media literacy.
References
Fadel,C., & Trilling,B. (2009). 21st Century Skills – Learning for Life In Our Times. Retrieved from
https://learning-oreilly-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/library/view/21st-century- skills/9780470475386/fade_9780470475386_oeb_c04_r1.html
Qualman, E. (2012). Digital leader: 5 simple keys to success and influence (1st ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.