In order to create a successful PLN, I would start with using a social media platform that will help me create a diverse network and will allow me to share posts, links, and thoughts easily to a wide range of individuals. Listening to the interview with Mo Amir, it was evident that Twitter is an extremely versatile platform that can help grow your PLN in a short amount of time if used appropriately.

To initiate my PLN, I would choose to focus on a topic that I am most passionate about. In my case that is anything related to healthcare in both developed and developing countries worldwide. To learn more about what is currently going on in the field I would begin by following credited agencies such as Health Canada, World Health Organization, BC Cancer Agency, etc. along with experts in the field. As mentioned by Woods (2013), its important to watch what these professionals do, and how they use their social media platforms effectively to communicate their voices to the public and receive feedback in return.

In order to emulate success stories, my initial action would be to check how many followers I have and also take a look at the ratio of like vs dislikes on my content. Additionally, I would also check to see if any noteworthy personality is following me or viewing the content I have posted. In order to expand my audience, I think it is important to discuss and share topics that can be relatable and of interest to everyone. As mentioned by Mo Amir, Vancouver is not such a big city as it may sound and surprisingly once you start a business you’ll become connected to many people who have connections that you may want to work with. So another way to expand my audience is working with these connections who are well known in a community and spread awareness of certain healthcare issues through them so it reaches hundreds or thousands more people. If we take Covid-19 for example, there are a number of people who don’t believe that this pandemic is real. And in order to increase awareness about the seriousness of the situation, it would be a good idea to have a known personality on my social media platform to talk about their experiences with Covid-19 (i.e. explain if they have personally gone through the illness or have witnessed a close family member go through it). Doing so will hopefully encourage those who look up to this individual and think that this pandemic is a hoax, to re-examine their thoughts and take the appropriate precautions to protect themselves and their community members.

When developing an audience on a social media platform its important to make sure that you are keeping your account secure from possible hackers. Most social media platforms now have login verifications and password resets notifications sent to your email to ask whether the changes are being made by you or an outsider. It is also important to make sure that the account names of your personal social media platforms are not visible on the public platform to help reduce invasion into your personal life.

When a social media page starts to become successful, many individuals do not want their thousands or millions of followers digging into their personal life. They want to keep their family safe from unwanted attention and if there are followers who don’t agree with the views you put forward on your page, then you don’t want the hatred or negativity being asserted on your family members.

 

References:

Woods, B. (2013). “Building your own PLN: seeking new insights and ideas? Expand your personal learning network.” Gale OneFile: Business, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A348998538/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=ITBC&xid=9daf4a31.

EDCI_338. (2020, October 10). A01 Building a Podcast. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyODAhviQyA