Fritz Petersen EDCI 338

“Nowadays digital technologies appear in all business segments, and are fundamental in many fields” (Giudice et al., 2019). Concluding this week’s reading, I believe this quote is very influential in reflecting on my learnings. My perception and understanding of my PLN have significantly evolved, leaving me with a great skill of understanding how to apply my PLN in the real world and find success doing so. By engaging with my PLN, I will be able to develop my professional skills beyond this course and, in turn, present many professional opportunities. For example, within this semester and enrollment in this course, I utilized my PLN to land an internship with a local alcoholic seltzer company. I landed this internship using an Instagram direct message, and the founder of the company who hired me was able to see many mutual connections we each had within our PLN, to trust and take a chance on hiring me. 

Learning from this, I understand the importance of keeping a clean image on our online PLNs. Often, our online social accounts or anything searchable under our name is at the forefront of a first impression, so it is crucial to maintain professionalism across the board on all our PLNs. For example, understanding how to utilize your LinkedIn PLN can help you prosper in connecting with alums of your school in an industry you are professionally interested in or even other unique opportunities. I would not quite say that you can rely solely on your PLN to open professional opportunities; however, I would say that if you overlook the amount of access and opportunities that your PLN can present you, you are uninformed on the fundamentals of a successful PLN. PLNs should be used to leverage connections and be the nail in the coffin in securing that job or landing that interview. 

Reflecting on this course and PLNs in the professional world, I have developed a motto: “You are only as good professionally as your PLN is,”; meaning that to avoid hindering your professional capabilities or opportunities, you must tap in and learn the ins and outs of your PLN to find success.

Reference List

Del Giudice, M. (2014). From Information Society to Network Society: The Challenge. In: Social Media and Emerging Economies. SpringerBriefs in Business. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02490-5_5

Embedded is my final project with my brother, Sten Petersen. We opted to portray our learning in a podcast episode, covering the topics of applying, understanding, and measuring the successes of ones PLN in the social world. I hope you enjoy my first podcast, as we had a lot of fun making it!

P.s., as a podcast conesuer, I now have a much greater level of appreciation for podcasters and editors as they are not the easiest to make!

Works Cited

Lui, S. (2022, June 6). Sophie Lui – Edci 338. YouTube. Retrieved November 21, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfcXgKLzOVM 

Burkard, Chris (2022) https://www.instagram.com/chrisburkard/?hl=en

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

Julie Smith’s interview was very eye-opening and provided a new perspective on news outlets, specifically TV news like NBC, ABC, Fox, etc. Julie reminds the listeners that these news outlets are for-profit businesses. Although I was aware of this, I tend to disregard this principle when going to these outlets to obtain news. This is not a critical or bad thing. However, it is to be kept in the back of your head and reminded of when listening to different outlets’ perspectives and reporting the news. For example, Fox Corp, the parent company of Fox News, is a publicly-traded company. To expand, they have shareholders that expect to see a return on their investments; therefore, Fox will present news they want you to see that benefits their business. They will give information to help persuade you to view their stories and content to benefit themselves.

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

Julie Smith’s perspective of “push vs. pulling” news was one I had never heard before. Technology has allowed humans to have an extensive and overwhelming amount of information readily available at their fingertips. This has led to various platforms, networks, and groups providing and distributing news and information. In turn, this allows the user to pick and choose what they want to read and how they want to interpret it. Reflecting on the topic and discussion of news sources, Bloomberg is an excellent example of a platform that tries to minimalize bias and aligns in the center of the political spectrum. Having many different information networks lying on other ends of the political spectrum and everything in between, many platforms camouflage what is real or what they want their audience to see. Bloomberg’s approach is one to be recognized as they do not push information or perspectives on the audience but instead let their audience choose what they want to read. This media literacy allows the audience to interpret information how they want to, a fundamental principle to maintain free thought in a PLN.

Cable News Network. (n.d.). Fox. CNNMoney. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://money.cnn.com/quote/shareholders/shareholders.html?symb=FOX&subView=institutional 

·       How do notable individuals use social media?

• Develop and grow their personal brand
• Monetize their image
• Promote and monetize their platforms in the forms of partnerships and advertisements

·       What are the benefits of being in the public eye and having a PLN?

• Able to capitalize on your image/brand and receive unique opportunities because of your outreach and PLN.

·       Building a community with online tools provided by the employer can be limiting; what are the perceived restrictions and benefits?

Restrictions

• Your employer always is watching you.
  • Take caution in voicing your opinion. Although your employee might recommend you speak your mind freely in your work PLN, you should always take caution.

Benefits

• Connecting with your colleagues and promoting communication
  • In a post-pandemic world, many employees feel isolated or lonely working from home, so a PLN is a great way to stay connected with each other.

·       Delivering information in a connected society requires verifiable resources; how to build a PLN to rely on?

• Utilize platforms that offer verification symbols next to users’ accounts for obtaining information, such as Twitter and Instagram’s blue check marks.
• Look out for fake users
  • When establishing a PLN on a platform such as Instagram, if connecting with an IRL (in real life) friend online, make sure that is their real account and not an impersonator, as bots (computers, robots, etc.) are built to impersonate individuals with substantially large followings in hopes of scamming users.

·       How do those, who are veteran storytellers, minimize the risk of sharing misinformation?

Professional storytellers such as podcast hosts, have large teams behind them to support them and the information they provide their PLN’s and followers. Although it might seem on their show, they are doing everything themselves, there are paid staff behind the scenes helping them tell a story

Blog Post #8

·       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.

• After watching the video, Sophie changed my opinion on how I would use different PLNs and platforms for different uses. Similarly, I too interact and use Twitter and Instagram very differently from each other. Twitter is more of an informative, news and discussion-oriented platform for me, whereas Instagram is a lot more social and casual. If I was a public figure, I would have two accounts on Instagram. One where I have a team to put thought and effort into maintaining a professional public image accessible to any user of the platform. I would also have a second account under an alias, exclusive to my close family and friends that is on private mode. Distinguishing boundaries to what you feel comfortable sharing online is important when creating a profile for a public audience.

·       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)?

• Your life revolves around your image and personal brand
  • Notable public figures are always being watched, judged, and observed for their actions. No matter what you do or say, people will try and spin it in a negative way to hurt your image. A good analogy I like to make about an online presence for public figures is to imagine they are being followed around online by a private investigator, attempting to cancel them or find dirt on them. For government individuals, this can be even more exacerbated. For example, a government member may comment on an old friend of theirs’s post on Twitter, thinking nothing of it. However, if say this “old friend” works for a company that directly opposes the government’s current policies, the media could potentially spin this comment to say or hurt this person’s public image and brand.

·       How to best address negative replies and critiques reflective of your personal values and employer’s social media policy?

• Learn to use filters
  • Workplace:
    • When using a PLN in the workplace, individuals are addressed and treated differently than they would be treated in a non-workplace environment.
    • When receiving replies from co-workers, individuals should not get offended or take these responses to heart as most of the time they are only work-related.
    • If one feels that they are unable to express their opinions appropriately in their work PLN due to their employer’s social media policy, they should reach out to their Human Resources department to provide clarification, as failing to comply with their rules can have severe penalties at times.

Establishing a diverse PLN to use online can only help one grow their perspective on life. Social media sharing increases outreach and promotes natural growth in individuals. This can be in both categories of communities and individuals. 

The latter can play a significant role in how your PLN reacts to the content you share and educates you on how people will perceive the content you share. For example, an athlete may be able to respond better to a post one makes about them playing hockey compared to someone in their PLN that they connected with when discussing cryptocurrencies.

If you are interested in learning, expanding your horizons, and educating yourself, social media can be an excellent way to achieve this. Engaging with your PLN is also necessary to ensure that no one is offended or hurt by the content you post you share with your PLN. What you may think is ok to share online, someone of another background may disagree; therefore, it is always important to check in with people in your PLN.

Furthermore, say I was to post about an upcoming student-run event that is taking place at a student-run bar. Given that most of my PLN are students, my PLN would respond and understand where my message is coming from a lot more than if my mother was to share the same post, as her PLN is comprised of ladies her age. Understanding your followers and PLN is crucial when engaging with your PLN online.

Establishing a strong PLN before creating a social media campaign is crucial for success. In plain terms, what’s the point in giving a presentation if you have no one to come listen to you speak? The same principle can be applied to social media. Creating an online community invested in your brand, product, or idea will make or break your campaign. Creating a passionate, engaged PLN requires networking. In September, I was hired by a local liquor company to represent them to the UVic student community. My first order of business was to establish my PLN and gauge my audience’s interest by posting a series of Instagram story posts. Having already developed my personal Instagram account to almost 1,000 followers, my social media PLN at UVic was well underway, granting me an excellent head start. Upon the first series of story posts, I was able to gain a strong understanding of my PLN’s engagement using Instagram’s provided analytics and insight tools. This data in turn would allow me to predict how my PLN and community would react to this content moving forward. 

Based on the data I collected from my story posts, I was able to recognize the following:

Instagram followers: 955

Story post #1 views: 512

Story post #2 views: 493

Story likes: 73

Story Replies: 58

This overwhelming amount of engagement on my story posts allowed me to follow up with over 50 people about the brand and campaign. Using this PLN, I created an incentivized purchasing campaign at local liquor stores, featuring bi-weekly story posts to continue engagement. After the first week of a buy two twelve packs in return for one free 12 pack, I was able to sell out one liquor store.

To reiterate, using my PLN and a student-targeted social media marketing campaign, I was able to sell out a liquor store in one week.

Not only have I used my PLN to help drive sales directly, but I have also utilized strong connections of mine with a large following of UVic students to help with the campaign. Over a two-week period, I was able to reach a total of ~7,500 Instagram views using 10 people. I provided these 10 connections of mine with product in exchange for story posts. This tactic helped create a strong buzz around campus. These connections of mine are influential students with large followings and engaged audiences. They understand our target demographic and post content accordingly, helping drive and build the brand on campus. 

Being able to quickly reach out to individuals within my PLN has reminded me of how important it is to continually expand and develop my PLN.

Social media in education is designed to help connect students with one another and maintain a positive learning environment remotely.

What are some problems with social media communications in education settings? 

• Lack of commitment
• Lack of engagement
• Sustaining engagement
• Cyberbullying
• Accessibility
• Privacy

Explore the video provided and reflect on the themes of a PLN in a professional capacity.
The Brad Baker interview highlighted a great point regarding the effectiveness of utilizing PLNs and social networks to help promote tourism, economy, and connectedness within first nation communities. Establishing a social media presence can greatly help modernize a first nation community. The video also discusses the theme of outreach PLN and public networks provide. Public networks help allow users to form connections, gain creativity, and get inspired by other users to help them improve their own pages. In this case, a social media manager who manages a first nations community’s Instagram page could benefit from seeing another creator’s content to help improve their own page.

Which social media platforms are beneficial in education?

Growing up as one of the first generations intertwined with social media, but also remembering what it was like when I was young prior to social media platforms, I have had my fair share of experiences using these platforms in education. I’ve used Instagram and YouTube to create projects where myself and classmates display our findings in a media format. However, these platforms are not focused on or designed for educational purposes. They lack user privacy, as well as make it hard to maintain a work-life balance because users might not want their school or professors to see their personal profiles. UVic’s platform Brightspace is the best platform I have used. Being its own platform, this allows the student/user to log in and out when they want to work, promoting a strong work-life balance. Brightspace is beneficial for education as it features many excellent tools to allow for a wide range of user interfaces when displaying content. Users can post Blogs, comment on classmates, upload videos, and even create discussion forms to collaborate with each other. Having a platform tailored to education exclusively is the best option when looking for a beneficial educational platform.

When working with the vulnerable sector, how does social media fit into professionalism and regulations? 

• Users can interact with each other
• Expand the work environment remotely to maximize accessibility
• Regulations must be in place to help protect user privacy and safety
• Networks must be protected using firewalls and encryption to protect users from hackers and third-party breaches

How do educators create discourse? 

• Discussion groups
• Group projects
• Feedback-oriented projects and assignments
• Peer review processes
  

How diverse is my PLN?

As much as I think my PLN is diversified, I lean more toward the unfortunate side, lacking diversity. Although the people in my PLN are diverse in their own ways, most in my community falls into a similar socio-economic situation. West side kids who live rather protected lives, many of whom have faced little to no diversity or adversity in their lives. Although there is nothing bad about this, sometimes when engaging with my PLN, perspectives, mindsets, and ideology can be much more biased than you might think, so it is important to be conscious of this and always keep an open mind.

To add to this, I went to a public high school filled with unique individuals all with very different lives, backgrounds, and diverse upbringings. However, regardless of how diverse it may seem, most of the kids at my school grew up in a prominently higher-end neighbourhood in Vancouver, so any opinion is to be made with a grain of salt.

What is a learning outcome of your PLN and how are you ensuring your exposure to diversity and inclusion?

My learning outcome of my PLN is to widen my connections at UVic and meet many new people of all different backgrounds. It has been a great pleasure of mine getting to meet many international students so far, as well as getting to meet students from across Canada, such as local island residents, Albertans, kids from Saskatchewan and even New Brunswick. Expanding my diversity and inclusion in my PLN has all happened relatively naturally through my BCom program and word of mouth from friends. I am enjoying the amount of knowledge and stories people share with me from their unique lives. That has been one of my greatest takeaways from UVic, is how widespread our student population is. I love meeting new people, and am excited for all the new friends to come in my remaining years!

As mentioned before in my previous blog posts, your social media identity is just an expansion of your normal identity. When using these public networks, it is important to always keep an open mind and put yourself out there to meet new people. One of the greatest things about social media is how easily we are able to connect with people all across the world with different backgrounds and lives. One of the great ways I have found to meet new people of different backgrounds is through Facebook groups. These groups highlight different cultures and people, many from different communities and are dedicated to bringing individuals together. Joining these groups is an excellent way I like to gain insight into how people of different communities interact with one another. This then allows for myself and new group members to interact politely and safely with each other.

Professional networks such as LinkedIn provide many great resources to help educate their users on how to be inclusive online. They offer free educational resources such as videos and tips to help expand users’ diversity and inclusion within their communities. Social media platforms should continue to promote diversity and inclusion training and resources to help keep their users educated, as sometimes users forget there are all different kinds of people in this world and that it does not just revolve around themselves and their opinions.

What digital platforms are students currently using to develop their professional network?
Professional networking platforms are excellent for students to jumpstart their professional careers. LinkedIn is the go-to professional network for students. Students flock to linked in as its user interface is similar to other social media platforms, promoting a natural and seamless transition for users. 

As a daily LinkedIn user and student, I can vouch for its applicability to students in both academic and professional realms. Before starting my undergraduate business commerce degree at UVic, I knew no one in my program. By updating my educational status on LinkedIn to display “University of Victoria – Bachelor’s of Business Commerce, 2025”, LinkedIn’sn’s algorithms were able to immediately ping other users of the same status, providing me with the option to reach out and establish a connection with them. As August closed out prior to my start in September, I was able to connect with a few classmates of mine, allowing me to have already formed a network before ever even setting foot at my new school. 

Establishing an online presence on a professional platform such as LinkedIn is crucial for students. LinkedIn’s algorithms promote content, so continued engagement such as posts and comments helps increase viewership on one’s profile. In turn, this engagement with your online network and community can help grow your personal brand by maximizing outreach and creating new connections. Regardless of one’s current educational or professional status, it is always important to continue updating your network.

What could the student consider in expanding their professional learning network? 

Expanding your professional learning network as a student is a very intuitive process. Most students are in the same boat. They are looking to find internships and excel academically, so they must learn to network professionally. Students can get involved within their school community in many ways to expand their professional learning networks. For example, students can join clubs and societies at their school. Attending events such as a club fair would allow a student to gauge different opportunities and ideally find something that interests them or aligns with their values and interests. At UVic, I joined the UVic Consulting Group. This group helps students establish a network with like-minded individuals, as well as advises and directs students from start to finish in the hiring process at consulting firms. Lastly, the UVic Consulting Group also helps connect students with potential employers and business professionals, promoting the growtstudents’ts’of s professional learning networks.

How does data privacy and security limit and/or promote a PLN? In your network how can you create a digital identity/ reputation?

Regarding the “perfect” lifestyle and appearance online, many users must remember not necessarily to not believe what they see online, but more to take what they see with a grain of salt. Platforms continually chase the authenticity and realness sectors of online public networks and social media by consistently updating their platforms. Before BeReal, there was Beme. Beme (or be-me) allowed users to share a 1-2 minute video from the front-facing camera of their phone. Here’s the catch; when a user starts recording, the screen would blackout. This tactic was used to encourage the user to be present in the moment and avoid worrying about the quality of the video. After the recording would finish, the video would immediately upload the user’s network in an unedited, raw state. Beme was short-lived, as one of its major flaws was that users (myself included) found there was not enough privacy. Ultimately if anything were to happen when recording that you might not want to be posted online, there was no control on the user’s end to protect their safety or privacy. As businesses chase this “realnesss” phenomenon, they must be aware of the fine line between too much and too little amounts of privacy.

“Beme (app).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 May 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beme_(app). Accessed 1 Oct. 2022.

A digital identity is how you present yourself to others online, both in a controlled and uncontrolled manner. When thinking of digital identity, one’s online presence on platforms such as Instagram or Twitter allows you to share information how you want people to receive it. For example, sharing a post or tweet or even commenting on a forum. This form of digital identification is a controlled setting, as the user ultimately has control of what they put online. The more dangerous sector of one’s digital identity is everything a user does not have control of online. What happens when you have had too many drinks and do something stupid in a video that is then shared on someone’s social network, resulting in backlash or even regret? Although the user did not directly share this online, it could negatively affect and damage their digital identity. 

Social and Professional Digital Identities

Knowing the difference between one’s personal digital identity and professional digital identity is very important. Often users have different private networks for different crowds. Users’ private, online networks tend to showcase themselves in a more human and relaxed setting. For example, they share a picture of them at a bar or concert with their friends or comment on others’ networks with informal jargon or slang. 

Professional pages often are very polished representations of individuals sharing little to no information about themselves outside the workplace. As individuals’ professional digital identities are often intertwined and affiliated with their employers, many businesses have stringent policies and expectations regarding how their employees display their digital identities and interact online.

Understanding what to share and where to share can significantly help protect individuals’ personal identities.

My Digital Identity

Born in 2002, I created my digital identity in grade five, when I made my first Instagram page in 2014. Fast forward to 2022, I still have the same page, along with many other social and professional networks and accounts. Thankfully, as I began posting and sharing content on my pages, my parents informed me how important it is to be careful of what you post online. They reminded me how I should not say anything online that I would not say to someone’s face in person. This is a great principle I have established, and I often remind others of its importance. Other than a few cringy and funny videos that a more creative and much younger version of myself posted, every day, I make sure to remind myself how important it is to know what to and what not to post online and to my public networks.