JiajingS Blog

Can your PLN be used to help professional development post-course?

I think PLN can help professional development after the course. As a student, most of my PLN is composed of classmates and mentors. PLN allows me to express ideas or ask questions quickly and easily, and get a response. In addition, we all have similar courses or come from the same major here, so our future career plans are mostly similar. We can also share and discuss through PLN in future work.

Can your PLN be relied on to open professional opportunities?

In my opinion, PLN can provide open career opportunities. First of all, PLN is an open network platform. Many people will share and publish content here. Maybe my future work or my boss will also be in it. Besides, I will pay close attention to job information related to my major, which will help me find and select suitable jobs. At the same time, when people publish content and discuss content, they will constantly update their understanding and ideas. Maybe at first, people are confused about their future work direction, but through constant understanding, they finally find the job they want.

What is media literacy?

Media literacy is a very important skill in today’s society. Generally speaking, media literacy refers to the ability to access, understand and create media information. Its goal is to train the whole people to interpret media information objectively and fairly. First, we need to understand the characteristics and operation methods of social media. Second, we need to choose a platform that suits us to build our own PLN, publish our own content, and communicate effectively with people.

Why is it important?

I think the main reason why media literacy is important is that social media is widely spread. Almost everyone needs to use social media, but the information transmitted on social media may be false and one-sided. People need to obtain information and absorb knowledge. At the same time, learn to correctly distinguish true and reliable content and protect your privacy.

Why is it dismissed?

On the one hand, new media is in a stage of rapid development, but under the education system, media literacy accounts for a relatively small proportion, resulting in a lack of overall national literacy. On the other hand, people in today’s society pay more attention to material life, so there is a state of extreme lack of spiritual life, and the values of various social media have appeared to certain deviations. In addition, in this open Internet era, everyone can freely publish content, and people are easily affected by some speech, thus losing their own judgment and lacking rationality.

Why should you aim for varied views but the factual consensus in your PLN?

People may have different views on some issues, which is a normal thing. We cannot guarantee that our views are completely correct, so it is particularly important to understand the views of others and interact with others. Not only can we learn more knowledge, but we can also look at things more objectively. Reaching a consensus in PLN can help us attract more people, so that we can more easily obtain information from many aspects. This is a virtuous circle.

Open dialogues about media literacy and factual information can create conflict; why does this happen?

The media tend to give the masses the information they want to know, because people tend to believe only what they want to believe and are not interested in the truth or integrity of these things. The same things can be presented in different ways depending on what each person thinks. They don’t care if the information affects society or other people, and they don’t look for someone to verify whether the information is right or wrong, even though it may be false news that is being spread.

What is the benefit of having a PLN that values media literacy?

Having a PLN that values media literacy is a way for people to think effectively when confronted with the various messages in the media, to understand the message correctly and to distinguish between true and false information.

How do notable individuals use social media?

I think notable individuals use social media for the same reasons as ordinary people – to connect with others and to get information or news from social media. The one difference is that celebrities use social media as a marketing tool to attract the attention of the general public and enhance their reputation. National governments, on the other hand, use social media to communicate social systems or to answer controversial political topics of the day.
Sophie points out in the video that she expresses herself differently on the two social media platforms, Twitter and Instagram. She tweets her own opinions, while on Instagram she prefers to post about her daily life.

Explore the video provided and reflect on the themes and questions above, reflecting on how you would curate your social media with a critical public audience.

In this week’s interview with Professor Jesse Miller and Sophie Liu, Sophie Liu discusses how she conducted her work before she used social media. Sophie’s first radio news job was at CKIQ, where she was using letters and the phone book to reach out to others at work. In addition， Sophie mentions in the video that depending on the social media platform chosen, her posts and the digital identity she has acquired vary greatly. Sophie sees social media as a platform to represent herself and and pursue continuous learning. When Sophie confronts audiences who post insulting comments, she mutes them rather than trying to block them and thus give them the satisfaction.

Identify the risks and benefits of engaging with a public audience in a media space- what are the risks for a public figure or person in a position of trust (educator, lawyer, government official)?

There are many risks and benefits when engaging the public in one’s media space. The risk of engaging with a public audience in a public figure’s media space is creating fake news. Fake news is misleading information that is close to the real story and yet false, generated to mislead the masses. Fake news travels fast and can often be very damaging to people. Because people are often biased, we usually only read news that interests us and the system recommends only what it thinks we are interested in, which results in media users being subject to selection bias. In addition, the second risk is privacy. In 2019, it was reported in the media that internal employees of the social media platform Snap had access to user data, including geolocation, mobile phone numbers, email addresses and other personal information, through specific tools, and that multiple employees abused this power to spy on users without permission. It is therefore even more important for public figures to be careful about the information they share online, as these risks of social media can have serious implications for their lives and careers. Another point that is specific to some people is that some public figures are subject to gender discrimination because she is female or of the same sex. And the benefit of engaging with a public audience is that it keeps the public figure relevant. The masses can get updates on the state of society through posts shared by public figures.

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

Sophie Liu shared in an interview that when she receives negative replies and comments, she solves the problem by muting them rather than trying to block them, as this may give the user who sent the negative comment the satisfaction. In my opinion, when I receive comments that I disagree with or don’t like my opinion, I will read them, but I won’t change my opinion because of them.