For our final project, my group explored various ways to utilize a PLN and looked at how it differs on different social media platforms. Four platforms (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok) were researched to determine which one fits for personal use, growing a small business, promoting health and fitness, and eductors. We identified Twitter to be best for educators, Facebook to be best for personal use, Instagram best for health and fitness, and TikTok to be best for small businesses. Then, we created 4 comics to depict our findings of these varying platforms.
Through this course, I learned that PLN should include diverse voices, where people you follow should have different cultural/ethnic backgrounds, from various industries, and have opinions that are different than you own. This made me reflect on my own PLN and realize that I need to follow more people that are different than me (rather it be different interests, political views, age, etc.). Moreover, this course taught me that social media sites like Instagram and TikTok, which are considered ‘fun’ social media that are mainly for entertainment can also be used for learning. For example, TikTok has channels that make videos about psychology facts, day-in-a-life of a doctor, or tips on post-secondary education from undergraduate students, etc. This shows that learning can be fun and engaging. Going forward, I hope to utilize TikTok and Instagram to follow people I aspire to be, to learn more about their industry and career.
After taking this course, I begin to view social media differently. Instead of it being a method to connect with existing friends and family, I realize it has many benefits for learning. I want to use social media more for learning and create content that brings value to others. Furthermore, this course made me more aware of the content I post online and the type of voice I want to be in my PLN. Going forward, I would like to follow accounts that talk about inequalities, politics, and any other topics I am unfamiliar with. I also realized that I should be more critical of the information I see online; not everything you see is true and it is important to compare different sources. It is important to watch news that has different political views and compare information on the news with the ones I see on social media. By receiving information that is directly from the source (on social media), it can reduce potential misinformation or biases that are present in secondary sources (news).