How do notable individuals use social media?
Celebrities should be more concerned about their words and deeds when using social media. First, notable individuals generally have lots of fans and followers, so pay attention to the authenticity of the information when publishing a post. When releasing news, they should first verify it in various ways to avoid publishing fake news which mislead the public. Second, try to avoid posting negative emotions. Celebrities should avoid making overly emotional and radical comments on social media and avoid causing unnecessary disputes and conflicts. The words and deeds of the notable people have a great influence on the public.


What are the benefits of being in the public eye and having a PLN?
Public figures usually have a certain reputation, and their words and deeds are more instructive to the public. Therefore, they can show more correct views on life and behavior through their PLNs. In addition, public figures usually have more resources, such as contacts, wealth, social status, etc., which can be reflected in their personal learning networks and can share more resources with the public. Furthermore, public figures usually pay attention to their own image and reputation, so their PLNs has a better reputation and are more reliable.


Building community with online tools provided by the employer can be limiting, what are the perceived restrictions and benefits?
Building a community with online tools provided by employers may be limited. Firstly, there are limited members of the community, and they are basically internal staffs. Thus, the contact resource is limited. Secondly, the internal community of the company cannot guarantee freedom of speech, so resource-sharing are limited. On the contrary, it is also beneficial to build a community with online tools provided by employers. By using online tools established by the company to upload data or share resources, the authenticity and safety of data and resources are ensured. At the meantime, the use of personal domain online tools ensures the effectiveness of data uploading and sharing, which is more convenient and faster.


Delivering information in a connected society requires verifiable resources, how to build a PLN to rely on?
It takes several steps to establish a reliable PLN. First, ensure the reliability of PLN internal liaison personnel. At the initial stage of establishing PLN, evaluate the reliability of the followers in the personal learning network and everyone in the learning community. It is very important to build a credible PLN environment. Second, ensure the credibility of the post content. Although social network is a virtual space, it is necessary to ensure that the information and resources disseminated are authentic, and not to disseminate fake news and resources. Third, choose a highly credible social platform. Platforms with high credibility will review the published contents.


How do those, who are veteran storytellers, minimize the risk of sharing misinformation?
Experienced storytellers are capable of judging the authenticity of published information and resources. They have more experience in verifying the authenticity and reliability of information and resources. They will avoid spreading false information and can help the public filter out false news, misinformation and fake resources.


Reflecting on how you would curate your social media with a critical public audience.
Firstly, it is vital for individuals to pay attention to the protection of their personal information and privacy, and don’t disclose their personal information and privacy to the public. Everyone should set their own account privacy settings in order to avoid unnecessary harassment and information disclosure. Secondly, it is important to ensure the authenticity of published information and resources. Don’t mislead the public by publishing problematic or unreliable news or resources. Therefore, it is necessary to check the reliability of each released information. Third, it is also significant to actively engage in social media. Share your own experience and knowledge, communicate and interact with others, and learn more information and inspiration from them. Build a reliable social environment.


Identify the risks and benefits of engaging with a public audience in a media space – What are the risks for a public figure or person in a position of trust (educator, lawyer, government official)?
The words and deeds of public figures in the media space will have a far-reaching influence on their fans and followers. On the one hand, the positive performance of public figures can play a demonstration and leading role, such as transmitting positive energy, paying attention to public welfare activities, which will have a positive impact on society. When a public figure pays more attention to social welfare undertakings, participates in volunteer activities and participates in charitable actions, it is often regarded as a positive benchmark by the public, and their good behavior habits will affect their fans, thus making a wider contribution. Similarly, the efforts and enterprising spirit of some public figures will also inspire the enterprising spirit of the public and make them work hard for their dreams. On the other hand, public figures have good financial resources and ability to gather people. For example, when the country suffers a disaster, they are more financially capable of helping the local people.


On the contrary, the negative influence of public figures in the media space will also cause fans and followers to follow suit, which will have a negative impact on society. At the same time, once the image of a public figure collapses in the media space, it will have a negative influence on their followers and fans. Furthermore, the intimate contact of public figures with the public on social media may expose their privacy. There are also extreme fans and followers who are too curious about the privacy of a public figure and commit crimes. Therefore, it is beneficial and harmful for public figures to actively participate in the interaction with fans or followers.


How to address negative replies and critiques that reflect your personal values and employer’s social media policy?
First, fully understand the negative responses. When there are negative responses and criticisms, you need to take time to understand them, and understand why there are such negative responses and criticisms. Including looking for the authenticity of information, whether it is a malicious comment of the followers, and whether they hold different opinions. After understanding the facts, find out whether there is any misunderstanding or incorrect information, respect everyone’s different opinions, discuss them amicably, and allow the collision of different opinions. This is also an important process of learning and understanding other people’s views.


Secondly, after knowing the truth of negative information, we need to take measures to deal with them. When responding to negative information, we should pay attention to the time, manner and content of the response. Positive reply to negative reply and criticism is also respect for others. And choose an appropriate way to respond to negative responses and criticisms. Adhere to the attitude of friendly communication and supporting different viewpoints. The content of the response should be concise and contain the main points, explain your own opinions, and at the same time be open-minded.


In conclusion, there exist risks and benefits of engaging with a public audience in a media space for public figures. Balance personal learning networks with public discourse is important for notable individuals.


Reference
Hirst, M. (2018). Navigating Social Journalism: A Handbook for Media Literacy and Citizen Journalism (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/10.4324/9781315401263
[MILLER]. (2022, June 6). Sophie Lui – EDCI 338 [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfcXgKLzOVM