How Does Social Media Engage Communications?
Social media engages communication effectively in many ways. The ability for instantaneous communication with individuals from all over the world has been able to foster a global community, and allows for people to connect with others that they would never get the chance to speak with in person. This weeks reading, “A New Vision for Public Media – Open, Dynamic and Participatory” delved into the topic of how social media engages communications very comprehensively. The author discussed how social media is able to work as a form of public service broadcasting, but its high speed nature allows for the education, information and mobilization of citizens to happen at a much faster rate. Social media also allows for participation from citizens, rather than just a one way stream of information from the news source to the people, individuals are now able to participate in discussions on any important topic. The reading discussed this idea through the lens of the philosopher John Dewey, who stated that, “conversation was the lifeblood of democracy” and that, “people talking to each other about the things that really affect their lives is what keeps power accountable” (Clark et al., 2011). Another main way that social media engages communication is through the ability to coordinate conversations into movements that are able to effect change in a society. When community members come together in an online space and coordinate events towards a certain goal such as a protest, this provides the opportunity for massive amounts of participation to take place with individuals who share the same values or are working towards the same goals.
How Does Social Media Challenge Communication?
Even though social media engages communication, it is also capable of challenging communication. One of the main ways it can do this is through disinformation. If individuals are unaware, or are purposefully attempting to spread false or misleading information, this can be done rapidly on social media. Especially if involving something topical or eye catching, this misinformation can be seen by individuals and shared quickly to many people in a very short amount of time, resulting in inaccurate information that can be harmful. In our learning pods, Jesse made a great connection of this phenomenon to when Covid was at its peak and the vaccine was just being released. During this time, many individuals were seeing inaccurate and false information on social media and spreading it to their friends and followers about whether the vaccine was effective, the origins of Covid and even if it was a real illness at all. This misinformation can even spread and evolve into conspiratorial thinking. It is always important to do research on the ‘facts’ we see on our social medias from reputable sources that will provide better, more educated answers. Social media can also challenge communication through toxic users that harass or cyber bully others. Because it is possible to create an anonymous persona on social media, individuals may take this as an opportunity to say or do cruel things that they would never do in person. This could lead an individual being targeted by cyber bullying to stop engaging in social media communication, or even delete their accounts all together.
The Policies of Employer Social Media Communication Expectations
Depending on the workplace, there may be varying levels of expectations employers impose on their employees when it comes to how they conduct themselves on social media. These expectations are usually put in place to protect the integrity of the company or workplace and ensure that individuals are behaving in an appropriate and semi professional manner even when they are not at work. This could involve not posting photos where alcohol or drugs are present or rules around engaging in racist, sexist or overall discriminatory behaviour online for example. It may also be important for workplaces to create confidentiality agreements so that employees are not exposing information that should not be disclosed to the public about their workplace. I know for me as a psychology student, confidentiality is a very important thing, and if violated can be grounds for some very serious consequences as it is up to us as employees to foster safe and confidential environments for patients or clients that must not be broken. Policies could also involve not online chatting about other coworkers behind their backs or negatively venting about work to one’s online friends.
How to Better use Social Media to Build PLN? Influencers & Commentators
If influencers and commentators wish to use social media platforms to better build and expand their PLNs, the best way to do so is through communication and collaboration with others in their field. By finding and making contact with peers, experts, other influencers and public figures in their specific area of interest, they are able to use those creators audiences to grow their own, as well as gain insight into how success is created in different spaces. By interacting with their social media content such as commenting on their instagram posts or retweeting their tweet with one’s own thoughts, a presence is established within the community through consistent and productive interaction. Even if you do not yet have a big following, it is equally as important to create your own content and provide your own thoughts on your topic of interest. In the EDCI 338 podcast this week, the interviewee, Markiel Simpson explained that one of the best ways to push your tweets and posts is through hashtags. He noted that especially in his niche interest of activism, as well as in many other spheres, hashtags have become a call to change and action, and are being strategically used by commentators to advocate and spread their movements. By using a specific relevant hashtag, your commentary is categorized with everyone else’s using the same one, and can be easily found by interested viewers who search the hashtag. This allows for movements to grow. It is also important to get involved outside of social media to create face to face connections with peers and collaborators from those online spaces.
What are the Benefits of a Diverse and Inclusive PLN in Social Media Sharing that Understands Where you are Coming From with Messaging that Impacts the Community?
I think that there are many benefits of creating a dynamic and inclusive PLN. One of the main ones is that it creates a space that allows for the individual to gain different perspectives and broaden their ways of thinking because of their PLN members. If you make a conscious effort to collaborate and communicate with individuals from many different backgrounds, they will be able to share their unique experiences and thoughts that may be completely different or even go against your own point of view. This then opens up a great space to have constructive, openminded conversations about topics, in which individuals can gain a greater level of understanding. In these conversations, it is important for PLN members to remain understanding and open to new ideas. This is very important when there are issues impacting the community as it can help community members with problem solving in complex situations, and create new ideas for activism.
References:
Clark, J., Aufderheide, P. (2011). A New Vision for Public Media. In: Jansen, S.C., Pooley, J., Taub-Pervizpour, L. (eds) Media and Social Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230119796_5
Miller, J. (2021, June 2). EDCI – 338 Markiel Simpson. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsoDHGaXNNs