Notable individuals use their social media platforms to express who they are and what they’re about. They also take advantage of the range some platforms have to expand their influential reach. Notable people also monetize their social media platforms to gain an income. Lui (2020) uses her social medias in a similar way. Lui (2020) talked about standing up or what she thought was right, and used an example of standing up for other women anchors.

Some benefits from being in the public eye and having a PLN is its easier to expand your influential reach across platforms. Some news channels now put the anchors and guests Instagram’s, Twitters, and even blogs on screen when they’re presented. This promotes your PLN’s and expands your reach. Lui (2020) said that as time went on in her career she stopped posting and replying to increasing negative comments from her expanding PLNs, resulting in her reading more posts of what Lui (2020) actually wanted to see.

Lui (2020) talks about how her private life disappeared on twitter after gaining followers and verification from her employment. This resulted in her taking a step back from tweeting and responding to negative comments, and mainly reading what she found worthy on twitter. Lui (2020) talks about how Instagram in more of a friendly place where she feels more comfortable posting photo of her personal life. Instagram is where her family and friends can see photos of what she’s been up to and a peak into her life Lui (2020).

Hirst (2019) discusses fake news and how the propagation of fake news is designed to manipulate user’s opinions towards certain objectives. Building a credible and trustworthy PLN is better for stronger and longer lasting connections. The more people trust you, the more they listen and are willing to give you advice. Users should always back posts up with research If you’re scared about posting unreliable information. This increases your digital literacy along with logical thinking when reading and posting on social media platforms. I know twitter has gotten good and notifying readers when posts are misleading, so if you want a PLN on a more reliable platform you can start with twitter.

References

Hirst, M. (2019). Navigating Social Journalism. New York: Routledge, https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/10.4324/9781315401263

Lui, S(2020) In the Public-Eye – Course YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/3T4jOdKd12I