Blog Post #6

– How do notable individuals use social media?

I think there are mainly two ways for celebrities to use social media. One is for fame and fortune, and the other is for communication and inspiration.

Some celebrities have certain expertise and become key influencers for the public. They can shape people’s purchasing preferences. Thus some corporations and merchants would be attracted to seek cooperation with them.

Another kind of celebrity includes people like Jody Vance. They view social media as an effective tool to express their own insights about their professional field and also embrace new ideas popping up every day online. Journalists definitely need to use social media so that they can know what people are concerned about and what changes the world is experiencing. Jody Vance is sharing information about vaccines with others, something people need and care about.

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

I think the biggest benefit of being in the public eye is that people can encourage and supervise us, including celebrities. I have read some articles about how to achieve one’s goal. One suggestion is that we should share our goals with our friends or strangers because they can monitor our progress and spur us to work harder. For celebrities, such a benefit also applies. By communicating with the public, the famous people can know what they lack and what people expect from them, which may help them to work on their profession. Besides, when people are convinced by their talent, they can also receive sincere encouragement and praises, which I think can ease their working pressure and give them more faith in their work. For example, a commenter appreciated the efforts Jody Vance made for the local artists.

– Building community with online tools provided by the employer can be limiting, what are the perceived restrictions and benefits?

Since the online tool are provided by employers, there must be limitations because we, employees always want to present the best of us to the employers.

From this perspective, the persona people built online may be untrue and totally inconsistent with who they really are in real life. There is less chance that people are giving sincere conversations and effective communication. Besides, when employers can see others’ attitudes, they are easily trapped with the effect of following the crowd. People can hardly show their disagreement to employers when others on the same platform have already shown confirmation. What’s more, some online tools are preprogrammed in favor of employers. For example, once the employee read the message there would be a sign to remind the employer that the employee has already received the message, which leaves the employee in relatively passive situations.
Regarding the benefits, I think such tools can really provide a platform for all the colleagues. The employees can easily find and connect with someone who can help with their work. They can share experiences with each other, inspiring each other to make more progress.

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

Verified information counts a lot in today’s society where fake news is rampant. To build a credible PLN we need to do some background investigation before we decide to connect with someone. We should make sure whether the person is professional or not and whether he/she is widely recognized in the field. However, even recognized experts may fall into the trap of fake news. In this context, we should learn how to determine the authenticity of the information. For example, we should track down the source of the information and look into how it is concluded and what it relies on instead of taking everything fed to us for granted.

– How do those, who are veteran storytellers, minimize risk in sharing misinformation?

The feature of misinformation normally is something people widely believe but is concluded on no ground. From this perspective, veteran storytellers should first adopt an attitude of suspicion for any easily available information. Then, they should try their best to dig out the source of the information and present it to the public to show its credibility. They need to judge whether the source is reliable or not. For example, academic papers deserve more credit than some newspapers and first-hand information is better than second-hand one. Besides, when people are judging the credibility of some information, people tend to be subjective based on their own experience and knowledge. Thus it’s better to get rid of prejudice or subjective opinion in face of information.  

References

Hirst, M. (2018). Social Journalism and the Gig Economy. Navigating Social Journalism: A Handbook for Media Literacy and Citizen Journalism. Ch. 6.(pp. 142-143). New York, NY: Routledge.

Vance, Jody & Miller, J. “EDCI 338 – 2021 – 03 – 21 JODY VANCE.” 03 Mar. 2021. doi: https://.youtube.com/watchv=dgZOJgJKdyl&feature=youtu.be