Social media is an open platform that everyone has an opportunity to share their lives/attitudes. However, different individuals do not have similar impact powers on social media. For example, celebrities who have millions of followers certainly have more impact than us. It can be both beneficial and risky for such a huge influence. Celebrities demonstrate their social media content diversely. Some celebrities share their fancy lives on social media, others might promote their work (like music/movies), or demonstrate their political stands, charities or commercial advertisement.
Meanwhile, social media can also help other people to become more influential public figures. Nowadays people get to know more about Tiktok figures since Tiktok emerges. Also, another example can be from the interview by Miller and Vance that Vance got a new job and signed a contract with a famous figure from her social media DMs. This is a great example of how PLN can expand our working/learning levels. However, as the figure becomes more influential on the internet, there are also potential risks/pressures. For example, when a famous figure presents her/his opinion online, that opinion might offence other people who held opposite ideas. There is also a possible risk that some ignorant speech might hurt others, even though that speaker is never meant to do so. Certainly, social media can give a lot of attention and success to one person, but sometimes it can also ruin one. Like the recent #FreeBritneySpears event alarms people about how too much media attention on celebrities can lead them to a mental health crisis.
Two years ago, I was a teaching assistant for an adolescent learning habit seminar in China. And my boss asked me to register a new social media account for connecting with my students because my old one “contains too much private content.” I was confused at first because I was quite open with my “private content” since those are just my travelling pics or interests. Then I understood that these personal pictures and speeches might impact the professional concept of being a teaching assistant. So later I registered a new account for connecting with the students.
For the critical replies, the first thing that pops up in my mind is that we are all unique creatures in this world. We all have different backgrounds and experiences, so that leads us to different opinions. I am open with all kinds of reasonable critics because I always want to improve myself. But there are also mean critics that are just personal attacks. I think it is important to identify comments and try not to be hurt by them.
I think it is important to check the validity of your PLN. In other words, people in your PLN communities need to share valid, trustful experiences/knowledge in the network. Especially for the professional field, people who update that information should have a professional identity. A trusted network can lead us to a higher level in that academic/working field.
References
Vance, Jody & Miller, J. “EDCI 338 – 2021 – 03 – 21 JODY VANCE.” 03 Mar. 2021. doi: https://.youtube.com/watchv=dgZOJgJKdyl&feature=youtu.be
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.
uvicstudent March 7, 2021
Hello Alison!
I really enjoyed reading your post this week. I liked the point you made about how celebrities have more of followers than us “regular” people therefore their impact and outreach is significantly more than ours. In my blog post I mentioned something similar where if we put out incorrect information we may get corrected from our friends and family (majority of my follows consist of that) in a polite and educating way. However for celebrities they suffer bigger repercussions where people attack them instead of educating and they have the possibility of being “cancelled” due to that.
zimengl March 8, 2021
Hi Alison,
I quit aree with you that celebrities’ influence on social media is both beneficial and risky. Sometimes when they receive some offensive comments, they may lose their self-confidence and doubt themselves. And now when processing data, it is possible to inadvertently manipulate information. Many public figures are followers of robots and are not active accounts. This may have a directional impact on public opinion.