Currently, there is a lot kind of social media platforms on the market. Since their using purpose is different, it’s extremely important for students to pick the right one to build their professional network. Before I joined the UVic Computer Science Co-op program, the instructor introduces Linkin to us. Because Linkin is the world’s largest professional social networking site with excessed 300million users worldwide,  it’s a great place to develop a professional network for Job finding, head-hunting, or showing your abilities. Having a professional profile will increase your exposure to the public in order to help people who need your abilities to find you faster. Blog is also a good place to express personal ideas and thoughts, however, Blog is mainly for users who want to know you more, like A head-hunter company thought your resume and cover letter is great, so he/she opens your blog to see more details about you, the way you write, express an idea, these are part of your personal identity.

Everything changes with technology, it’s extremely necessary for new graduates like me to own and maintain a professional learning network. For new users who want to expand their professional learning network, they should start considering their roles[1], think about what kind of learning style I have. Some learner learning by reviewing situations, such as comment opinions to articles or share personal thoughts on a piece of news. Some learners get knowledge by apply learning to real situations, such as creating a project and recording the process. Others might prefer to learn by doing some researches. It’s important to figure out what kind of learn style you are and try to switch it sometimes, this can make what you learn more comprehensive. The next step is to join online groups and share opinions with peers. Cooperating with others will expand your learning network fastly. Learning from others, identifying what they are good at and providing feedback to what you think is insufficient.

Before generating a personal identity, the first time we need to know that everything we build can be fake or real. The personal identity contains a lot of attributes, like the photo you post, the comment you have, relation status,  the language you use, etc. It can be totally different on various platforms. For example, I would never post any silly jokes on Linkin, I write as much professional as possible to demonstrate myself, I always think twice before I contact a group or person. However, I feel more relax to post anything I want on Instagram, where most of my friends know who me better. Imagine your potential employer whether want to know any trivial matter about you. Since different usages of the platform, your performance can be distinct. The key to building an excellent  PLN always understands your audience and provides details they want to see, show how professional you are in the desired area.

 

 

Reference:

[1] Courses & PD. 2020. Step 1: What Is A PLN?. [online] Available at:<https://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/pln-define/> [Accessed 15 October 2020].