PLN in practice

PLN in practice

1. Explore how you would create a PLN prior to building a podcast on a topic of your choice and how would you use your PLN with the intent to expand your audience?

Just as what Mo Amir said in the video, building a PLN contributes a lot to creating a podcast. He can take part in related community and follow professionals, which lays a foundation for their future cooperation. Besides, he can post an issue and trigger a debate or a meaningful discussion, not only promoting people’s reflection on these issues but also publicizing his own brand. These examples manifest how PLN could play a vital role.

If I have to choose a topic of my podcast, I may choose film commenting. To create such a podcast, I would build my PLN in the following aspects. To begin with, I would follow some renown predecessors on Twitter or YouTube. I would spend some time listening to or watching their works. This process could help me get to know the content and procedures, to be familiar with the taste of the audience. Then I would directly communicate with some of them. I would describe my respect for them as well as my preliminary plan and then ask for advice. At the meantime, I may try to search for people in my PLN who happen to know anyone working on film commenting. To sit down and have a good chat with such predecessors, as far as I am concerned, would be much help and this could also be a basis for our potential cooperation.

I would also put efforts into building my social media profile. As Bianca said in her passage, the profile need to be professional and also show my personality. Since I don’t have much experience, I would briefly and clearly state my motivation and my goals about film commenting. If anyone shows any interest in my content, I would treat them with respect and sincerity because with the great power of social media, one’s positive reputation can bring more fans. I also learn from successful predecessors that one has to proactively sell oneself on different social platforms to expand one’s influence. So I would try to explore as many platforms as I can.

2.Explore some of the privacy/security concerns to consider when developing an audience on any social media platform. What are the concerns for individuals who become influential in a social space?

As to privacy and security concerns, I think they are inevitable if one choose to expose oneself to share his/her views. If one’s famous, such issues could be much more serious. What comes with fame is bigger expectation and requirements. Some people may use one’s previous online traces to attack one’s credibility or one’s character. We may all post some inappropriate remarks or comments under certain circumstances. As a result, one’s social persona is very vulnerable and could collapse in an instant. Another problematic issue is about appearance. I would find this most unacceptable. I myself am not a mentally strong person. If I am at risk of being attacked and abused, I would consider it hard to stick on. On top of that, a more subtle concern is about the public’s expectations. For example, my giving film commenting is initially aimed at looking for fun and bringing useful recommendations for others. And once I get famous, I might be surrounded by others’ expectations and deviant from my original plan. But from another perspective, the public pay attention to us because what we bring to them is special. So persist in one’s initial intention and style may lead to bigger success.

References

Woods, Bianca. “Building your own PLN: seeking new insights and ideas? Expand your personal learning network.” T+D, vol. 67, no. 11, Nov. 2013, p. 70+. Gale OneFile: Business, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A348998538/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=ITBC&xid=9daf4a31. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.