- Research on Social Media and Learning Communities:
I researched interior design during the 15 minutes. The platforms I used were pinterest, instagram and tiktok. On pinterest I was able to get inspiration and new ideas on how you can incorporate different colors and textures into a space and make it cohesive. On instagram I explored some of the pages I follow and new ones to see the progression of the interior designers skill over the year and how they have developed and changed. On tik tok I watched videos of before and after and saw drastic changes to spaces. Doing all of these things allowed me to explore what I could do with my spaces and how I can improve by doing different things.Â
- Building Your Personal Learning Network (PLN):
The main social media platforms that I use are Instagram, Tiktok, Snapchat, Facebook, Pinterest and Youtube. I’m now realizing through this reflection that I use each platform for a different reason and purpose. Some reasons overlap but staying consistent. I use instagram to stay in contact with friends I have met throughout my life, as well as influencers whose content I find interesting. Youtube partially alings with this purpose as well. The influencers and families I follow on instagram usually have a youtube account which I enjoy watching and takes a deeper dive into their lives. This content is meaningful to me because things they post are entertaining as well as they line up with my life values and what I strive to be. I use tiktok to watch random videos when I feel bored and to find new things. Then I use snapchat to keep in contact with my close friends and know what they’re up to throughout the day. I use Pinterest to find inspiration for many different things like outfits, room, nails, hair, and life. I tend to create mood and motivational boards to influence me in my life. Finally I use facebook for the Marketplace function where I am able t0 find things for myself and my home as well as looking at random cool items. Using all of these platforms for different reasons allows me to stay connected and updated on many different people, activities and trends.
- Setting Professional Goals and Engaging with the Community:
Ways in which I plan to identify the right media platforms are by ensuring the purpose of the app follows my values and goals for using it. Just like how I use instagram to keep up on my friends life but also to share my life with others as I moved across the country so they have some idea of what I’m up to and to keep a memory book. If instagram didn’t allow me to do these things I probably wouldn’t have the app. I set personal/professional goals on social media by viewing what other people I like are posting and allowing that to give me ideas for my posts. I engage with the community in ways I had mentioned above by following people I enjoy, posting what I feel comfortable posting, liking other people’s content, staying connected to friends by sharing what’s on my “for you page”, etc.
- Protecting Your Information and Ensuring Ethical Behaviour:
Some ways in which I protect my information and ensure ethical behaviour in my PLN is to monitor who I follow and who follows me. Just yesterday I went through my following and followers and removed many people I either did not know or did not feel comfortable interacting with. I think going through these two things regularly helps protect my information. I also keep up to date on apps privacy policies and the changes they make to them which happens very frequently. While posting on socials I only post what I feel comfortable doing so for the audience that follows me. I clean my social media accounts overtime and remove any posts I feel either don’t suit my image anymore or I don’t feel comfortable having them on my page for my followers to see. I recently made my tiktok account public because I wanted to try and reach a bigger audience with the idea that anyone coming to uvic could reach out to ask any questions they wished because when I was going into my first year I searched and searched on social media to see if I could find any extra information about uvic but usually came up empty. So far I have had 2 people reach out which is nice.
- Privacy Concerns and Online Participation:
Privacy concerns affect my willingness to join online communities or share information varies depending on the app. For some apps I scan over the privacy policy to get an idea about their policies because most of the time it is an app I need so I can do something and I don’t really have a choice if I like the privacy policy or not. Sort of like the cookies on websites. Sometimes you just have to let it happen because you need to go on that website. Other times if it’s an app or website I am just going on for fun and their privacy policy seems a little funky, maybe I will pass and not participate with what they are offering.
