How has your thinking about inclusion and PLN evolved?

  • How does social media engage in communications?

In the podcast with Simpson, he talks about his personal PLN and how it led him down a path to pursue his passions. He talked about how through his twitter account he got noticed. The reason he got noticed was through using appropriate hashtags and standing out about certain debatable topics. He was a strong advocate for Black Culture and Anti-Racism Campaigns. Through his exposure he was able to lead around 50 school districts to use his ideas in anti-racism training for teachers. He talked about how anyone should follow their passions and allow their voices to be heard. It may lead you down a path you didn’t know you wanted. Simpson was able to engage with the right people through social media, he stated that he made sure to keep it strictly about his passions but avoided adding in his personal life.

How does social media challenge communications?

Social media has challenged communications in many ways. For one people can be misinterpreted on platforms like twitter that don’t show a person speaking and the meaning or intentions behind it. Therefore what they are saying can be misinterpreted. Shelly Moore talked about how some people would read her twitter posts in the wrong context which would sometimes lead to out of context comments. Other things that made challenge communications are fake news can be shared and cause anger and confusion, just like the angry Trump fans on the Whitehouse a few years ago. It can also cause communication overload. It can be hard to focus on meaningful conversations with so many possible paths online. Another thing is people who use it as a way to bully people online. It can be a challenge because people mostly are not accountable for what they say online.

Is it inclusive?

Are public learning networks inclusive? Well that is a yes and no answer. Online platforms are very accessible to most people. It doesn’t matter what their backgrounds are they can join a platform and explore based on what they would like. However, as we talked about before a big amount of people still don’t have access to the technology allowing them to even have the opportunity to do so. On the one hand my friend I grew up with was born blind. Through technology advances she has somewhat equal access to technology and engages with people online as much as I do. However, some people don’t have the same sort of lifestyle where their lives would even allow for the time to explore the same type of information to follow their passions. Therefore I feel like everything in this area is not black and white but it depends on each persons situations.

Does your PLN amplify the views of others?

I would think every persons PLN can amplify the views of others. If they are following you they have the opportunity to see your opinions, perspectives, lifestyles and ideas. Through this they may become motivated or excited about something. I think that everything we see online influences us in a positive or negative way whether it happens consciously or subconsciously.

The policies of employer social media communication expectations.

I think that employers need to be cautious about what their employees post online. For one, what their employees post may be a positive or negative representation of their company. Also, if something bad is going on in the workplace they need to plan ahead to make sure employees know their boundaries. This will protect their company from bad press. This will also allow employees to know their boundaries beforehand. I know someone who posted about a bad tip online once and they got fired over it because it was inappropriate. I feel like these boundaries are important to be in place to avoid people ranting when the have big emotions.

What are the benefits of a diverse and inclusive PLN in social media sharing that understands where you are coming from with messaging that influences the community?

The benefits of diversity and inclusion allows the sharing of ideas and the connections. Shelley Moore talked about how during covid she felt lost in her day to day and created an online community with strangers that helped her thrive at a completely different angle. Sharing ideas and prospective is a wonderful way to expand our experiences and discover new things. I feel like the world has changed so much in my lifetime. I have grown up before social media became an everyday thing. Moving to today where so many people are connected people share so much information everyday from so many different places. I feel like it can be a little unhealthy but also healthy depending on what passions you follow. My daughter is fifteen and does a skin care routine, I never have. This is 100 percent due to following people who have taught her about the importance of keeping her skin safe. Someone I know follows people who believe in conspiracy theories. This has taken a toll on the people close to this person and feel constantly annoyed and bad for the person who is so angry at the government. I personally feel the access the world has is so diverse so we must be careful.

Group Discussion Reflection:

In our group we chatted about the topics for the week. First we talked about “How does Social Media engage in communications?” Together we talked about how people engage through connecting employers, job seekers, and exposing users to other people. Secondly, we discussed “How does social media challenge communications?” The information can be overwhelming and can be biased through the algorithms. Before doing the group chat I didn’t think about how it was biased before that. Now I see another way that not everyone is exposed to the same things. It is more controlled than I imagined. We don’t really have exposure to what is out there, it can be misinterpreted.

As a whole we discussed if PLN is inclusive or not. Overall, we agreed that it depends. Last week we learned how it is not accessible to everyone, but it is catered mainly to people who use those technologies because their home lives allow it (more free time, has technology). Lastly, does your PLN amplify the views of others? We talked about how PLN can diversify who your role models are, influence yourself and others because your collaborating things. We talked about how it increases the size of accessibility and it could create a larger network. When looking at “The policies of employer”, social media communication expectations we talked about how it was similar to our discussion last week. We talked about the utmost important to keep your social media respectful, because employees represent the company and pre-set expectations can support employees and employers during emotional moments. The final question regarding the influences in the community. We talked about it depends on what roads you take online. It could be down a dark dangerous path or a health conscious happy route. Beware and be careful.