Category: edci338

Using Your PLN for Growth: 

I find Little Red Book could aslo be used as an excellent reading communication community，not only just focused on sharing goods and beauty. Last year, I decided to open a reading note account on Little Red Book to record and share my reading experience with other people that share the same interet as me.

Sharing my own reading notes on Little Red Book not only allowed me to record my feelings and feebacks while doing the reading, but also helped me to improve my writing and content creation skills. What’s more important, Little Red Book shocked me about the power of reading and the warmth of this interesting community. By interacting with those, I not only enriched my reading list, but also made lots of like-minded friends.

Engaging with Your Community: 

The reason that the platform is engaging is that in order to enrich the content, most blogger will photograph the book covers and with attractive pages in the book, and used catchy words on the cover to describe the main content of the book they are sharing and what this book covers.

Building a Supportive PLN: 

As the content was published on the platform, I received lots of comments and private messages from the some peer readers. Most of them shared their opinions and experiences that has connections with the books I share, and some even recommended great books that are similar and I haven’t read yet.

I also set up different group chats for different book readers, in which those who are interested in the same kind can share their experiences and feelings. For what they don’t understand is also convenient for everyone to communicate in time. I will use tags when doing the post to atttract people that share with similar professional interests and goals?

Expanding Your PLN:

I wish to become an influential book blogger on Little Red Book that could promote reading culture more actively, and finally can achieve brand cooperation with revenue growth one day. First year plan: Constructing the foundation by building a solid content base page. Sharing reading notes for at least 4 books per month, covering different genres and topics to make sure the radiation population. Frequently participating in Little Red Book’sreading challenges and to increase the notes exposure. Enhancing photography skill, video editing and writing to make sure the content creation is fascinating. In the 2^nd year, I can expand my influence, basically is increasing the number of fans, enlarging the influence of the account. Year 3, I could focus more on personal brand cooperation and commercialization by establish partnerships with some famous publishers, libraries to promote new books and cultural events.

Research on Social Media and Learning Communities:

I want to explore soccer skills on Facebook because I hope to find communities where people share useful skills and information. There are lots of groups sharing soccer skills. I joined one called ‘Soccer Training – Drills, Tactics & Tips,’ which has 65 thousand members. The group has, on average, 8 feeds updated every day. By browsing the content, I see several topic domains being shared, including tactics, professional team drills, and questions from players or coaches. I also found that there are almost no comments and discussions under each feed. I think this may be because my search keywords are too general, causing members to lack connections.

Building Your Personal Learning Network (PLN):

Currently, I only use LinkedIn for networking. It is an important tool to connect me with experts and gain useful information from my field of interest. I’m planning to explore more on LinkedIn to discover more career opportunities and professional networks. I can participate more in discussions and raise more questions to connect with thought leaders.

I think Twitter is an ideal PLN for discussion and sharing because its real-time communication function lets me get direct information from professionals and academics. I can join the conversations and get instant feedback. I can also post live tweets during live seminars.

Setting Professional Goals and Engaging with the Community:

When choosing social media platforms for my PLN, I focus on my career interests,which is in digital marketing. I use LinkedIn to connect with other professionals and Twitter for browsing updates from my intended companies and participating discussions. On LinkedIn, I share articles and my own posts about marketing trends. I also join Twitter chats during marketing events to learn and network effectively.

Protecting Your Information and Ensuring Ethical Behaviour:

To keep my personal information safe, I use strong passwords and enable two devices authentication on my social media accounts. I make sure to share content responsibly by crediting sources and confirming the accuracy of the information I post. This helps me maintain a trustworthy profile and respect others’ work.

Privacy Concerns and Online Participation:

My concern for privacy affects how much I share and join online communities. I feel uncomfortable about platforms that ask for too much personal information and prefer those with clear privacy settings. I will always control my posts’ content and personal details. This will make me feel secure and comfortable while interacting online.

What is digital identity?

Digital identity means an individual’s digital footprints across online activities, reflecting their characteristics from a digital perspective. This includes personal profiles on various social media sites, chats, networks, and other forms of communication. Individuals can tailor how they present themselves within their digital identity to match the nature of the platform. For instance, people may display different aspects of themselves on professional, personal, and dating platforms, each tailored for a specific purpose.

How do you present yourself on social media platforms for personal use? What kind of content do you share, and how do you manage your privacy?

On WeChat, I typically use Moments to share content and pictures that show the interesting aspects of my life, such as hobbies, food, and scenic views. Sometimes, I also express my opinions on news and events to reflect my personal values. In the past, when I was in a relationship, I would post photos with my girlfriend. Now that I’m single, I focus more on my own experiences rather than pictures with others. I also prefer not to share photos of my family. To manage my privacy, I set the visibility of my posts to six months and block certain individuals, like teachers or internship colleagues, from seeing specific posts to prevent context collapse. Additionally, I am careful not to share overly personal information, such as details about my family members, home address, or phone number.

What steps do you take to maintain a professional image online?

To maintain my professional image online, whether on school platforms, resumes, or recruitment sites, I ensure all information is valuable and relevant to my objectives. For instance, my resume highlights my educational background, contact details, past internships, program experiences, relevant skills, and strengths. I tailor my expression to align with the targeted position and use numbers to demonstrate my achievements. In my cover letter, I convey my passion, insights, and reasons why I am a suitable fit for the job to constructively persuade employers. In China, it’s required to include a personal photo on resumes, so I use a professional headshot. Additionally, when responding to emails or during online interviews, I maintain professionalism by using appropriate language and being familiar with the experiences listed on my resume.

How do personal versus professional approaches to digital identity affect social media use?

People often use different social media platforms to separate their personal and professional lives due to varying presentation logic and nature. For example, my friends typically chat on WhatsApp, share life updates and news on Facebook, follow celebrities and post trendy photos on Instagram, and present professional content on LinkedIn.

Reflect on the challenges and benefits of maintaining personal and professional digital identities. How do you ensure they complement rather than conflict with one another? Provide examples from your own experiences.

I tailor my personal and professional images using different social media platforms. Combining these aspects can be challenging and often depends on the nature of the work. For example, for a sales, I believe a mixed social identity that incorporates appropriate personal information can enhance trustworthiness and authenticity, making the product information seem less driven only by business motives. I also follow some fashion designers on Instagram who effectively merge their personal lives with their professional designs. This approach helps communicate to consumers that their inspirations stem from a genuine, fantastical life, enhancing the designer’s charm.

As a job candidate, however, I choose to focus primarily on my professional attributes because personal opinions or affiliations could lead to biased perceptions by potential employers, potentially disadvantaging me. For instance, if I were applying for a journalist internship at China Media Group, I would need to carefully manage my digital identity. Sharing personal, critical, or radical opinions about the Chinese government could directly jeopardize my chances of securing the position.

Looking ahead, how do you plan to manage your digital identity as social media continues to evolve? What steps will you take to adapt to new platforms and trends while maintaining a consistent and positive digital presence?

As social media continues to evolve, I believe that platforms will enhance their user-friendliness and functionalities. I will stay informed about the latest privacy policies and features to better manage my digital identity in my professional life. I will stay real to tailor my online presence, appropriately reflecting my mood on personal platforms and keeping my professional sites updated with relevant experiences to enhance my career. Additionally, I’m open to exploring new platforms that can help achieve my goals. For instance, if I were to start a business in China, it would be crucial to establish a presence on the Red online community to gain followers and increase exposure.

About Me

My name is JiaoNing Hu, I prefer you to call me Jerry. This is my second year at the University of Victoria, and my major is Economic. Prior to this, I studied art and science at Camosun College and obtained a diploma.

What interests you about social media and personalized learning?

Social media is a big part in people’s life today. We spend lots of time on social media with all kinds of purpose. Not only watching fun videos, but also leaning from knowledge bloggers. Using social media as a tool to tailor the learning experiences could be very effective. With devices, one could easily access vast knowledge and reach peers even experts in your interested area. I’m looking forward that the personalized learning, with the help of algorithms, will create engaging educational methods.

How do you currently use digital tools in your learning or professional life?

I’ve been using digital tools in both of my learning and professional life for a very long time. In learning, I watch Khan academy courses to expand my multidiscipline knowledge. I use astronomy educational apps to explore the real-time night sky. I also watch Youtube to see my interested bloggers sharing about their opinions on politics. I use my laptop to do professional learning. I use email, google doc and excel to manage my team collaboration and work progress. Plus, google scholar is a wonderful resource to access academic research. I believe that good at using digital learning tools is a crucial skill for every student.

What is your understanding of digital literacy and its importance in education?

Digital literacy is an ability to effectively search, read, and use information online. It is also related to in students’ academic performance. The skills include Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Learning to Learn, Communication, Collaboration and Social Responsibilities. Digital literacy is important in education because those skills enable students to identify useful and reliable information from vast resources by using critical thinking. I think students should always enhance their digital literacy because there are so many new digital tools appeared every day.

Describe any experiences you have with Personal Learning Networks(PLNs). How do you plan to develop and utilize your PLN through this course?

I’ve been using PLNs by connecting with my friends, teachers, and experts through LinkedIn, WeChat, Twitter, and email. These platforms have played a crucial role since my middle school years. In this course, I hope to discover more personalized learning channels that are more suitable for my current academic life to enhance my learning and skills.