- 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)?
Some of the risks of engaging with a public discourse with a public audience in the media space is that one’s opinions or views will be exposed to the public who can disagree with him/her. This kind of communication set-up results to division due to varying beliefs and perspectives. For the journalists, engaging with a public discourse is their bread and butter. However, Martin Hirst explained it is almost impossible to make a living from freelance journalism (142). This only means that for the journalists, the risk of involving in a public discourse would have something to do with the money that they are making. On the other hand, engaging in a public discourse also has its benefits like it can shape the public opinion and it can also help the public become informed. Just recently, I followed Doctors on Social Media (@somedocs) on Twitter and I learned that random people can ask them health-related questions and they often leave a reply. This way, Doctors on Social Media helps dismiss myths about health and they also give people free medical advise.
- How to best address negative replies and critiques reflective of your personal values and employer social media policy?
In this week’s video lecture, Jodi Vance, the first woman in Canada to host her own sports show in prime time on national sports network, explained that establishing one’s reputation can be very difficult but ironically, it can also be easily ruined (Miller 21:37). By saying “establishing reputation can be very difficult” she was pertaining to the days when she was handing out bumber stickers to promote the radio station that she was working on. More so, she was also pertaining to doing volunteer work for Greater Vancouver Open so that she can expand her network. In connection to this, the people who engage in public discourse should make sure that credibility of the information they share with others or else no one will ever attempt to believe in them again. More so, in addressing negative replies, people engaging in public discourse must know when to stop (Miller 19:50). It is important for people to know when to stop in order to prevent problems from getting out of control.
3-4 How do notable individuals use social media? What are the benefits of being in the public eye and having a PLN?
Notable individuals use their social media to create and expand their network. In the case of the administrators of Doctors on Social Media (@somedocs), they were able to extend their services and expertise to people who rarely goes to the hospital for medical check-up. In addition, using Twitter also helped them reach people who cannot afford to go the hospital for annual check-up. In the case of journalists, on the other hand, they use social media to keep the public informed.
- Building community with online tools provided by the employer can be limiting, what are the perceived restrictions and benefits?
Using restricted online tools provided by the company can help the organization better communicate with their employees. This is because this particular online tool is specifically designed for the effective communication between and among employees. Nevertheless, the online tools provided by the company does not enable integration. This means that outside work, there is no means for employees to reach each other for personal reasons like inviting them to a party. Unless the employees would give each other’s personal social media accounts.
- Delivering information in a connected society requires verifiable resources, how to build a PLN to rely on?
In order to build a PLN that I could rely on, the first thing I did is to check whether the people I am following are legitimate or not. Moreover, I also look into the content that they are posting and fact-check the content of their posts. Lastly, whenever I saw misinformation in my social media I usually report it and send a personal message to one who posted the information to politely request them to take down their post.
- How do those, who are veteran storytellers, minimize risk in sharing misinformation?
From what I learned from Martin Hirst, I could utilize “citizen journalism” in order to acquire reliable stories to share with others. The digital age allowed individuals to participate and collaborate in the creation of an information. With the help of the people, I could guarantee that my contents are monitored and double-checked.
Works Cited
Hirst, Martin. ” Social Journalism and the Gig Economy.” Navigating Social Journalism: A Handbook for Media Literacy and Citizen Journalism, Routledge, 2018, pp. 142-147.
Miller, Jesse. “EDCI 338 – Jody Vance.” YouTube, 1 Mar. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgZOJgJkdyI.
Hi Zongyujia,
I am really appreciated to read your post! I am agree that the risk of engaging social media with public audience is individual’s opnions will be exposed under the public eye, the opinion may gain encouragement but also extreme critiques, sometimes over aggresive speeches may hurt the feeling of the publisher, also cyber-violence could be resulted from public as well. I also agree that people should check whether the person they follow on the social media writes the legal and correct information that provides help for his/her followers. I think at the perspective of publishers, they are also responsible for writing legal and correct information for their followers and themselves. Thanks for sharing your awesome post and welcome to comment on mine!
Angel Liu
Hi Angel!
It would really be important for social media users to do the fact checking themselves so that they will not be a victim of misinformation. There are a lot of information available on the internet but not all of them are true. For this reason, social media users need be responsible enough to report fake news and not to share it with anyone.
Hi zongyujia,
I really like your way of build a PLN to rely on. It is important to check whether the people you are following are legitimate or not. This way we can check to see if we can trust on this online posts. Building a reliable PLN is very important !
Hi Yanlixu,
Thanks for leaving a comment. I totally agree with you. PLN should really be reliable or else it cannot be called as a Personal “Learning” Network anymore because learning is only possible if learners are using legitimate information. Accordingly, social media users should be constantly be reminded that they should be responsible about what they share and what they post.
Hi Zongyu Jia,
Thank you for sharing! I am interested in talking about the concept of “citizen journalism”. Some people may think their work involve conflicts of interest and politics. Do you think its pros are more cons?
I believe that one of the beauty of social media is that users are free to share their own opinions regardless if it is going to be in conflict with anyone or other group of people. To avoid offending other people, healthy and respectful conversations should be observed so that everyone will have a fair share of their thoughts and opinions. Hence, with regard to pros and cons, I think that there is more pros than cons in citizen journalism.
Hi,zongyu.
I agree with you very much, and I can see that you watched the video seriously and quoted a lot of content in the video. I think it would be perfect if you can add some pictures and colors to the website.
Hi Joannalu,
Thanks for your suggestion. I would add more pictures or illustrations in my next blog post.