There’s plenty to learn from people outside our field. A strong PLN includes individuals in completely different lines of work. Technology, in particular social media, helps you discover people you would have never met otherwise, and to stay in touch with people with whom you would have otherwise fallen out of touch, We should take advantage of technology to broaden and strengthen our PLNs (Woods, 70). We are surrounded by people with a wealth of information, often this expertise isn’t immediately obvious. If you possess a strong PLN, you can personalize your PLN to reflect your interests, your own work and the things that you enjoy doing. By doing so, you can engage in conversation with the people in your life and ask about their experiences and what they are interested in – this is a learning experience.
There’s no better tool for engaging in these meaningful conversations right now than a PLN. Since each social media platform has a different purpose, you have a plethora of options you can choose from when deciding on a “chosen space” — where you can represent your skills and interests at their best. Regardless of your chosen space, there’s one main thing you have to do to get started; start conversations! By taking this initiative, if someone you follow posts something that piques your curiosity, you can comment, like or share the post with your own commentary among your own PLN. Let your feed be a reflection of you and let your posts be professional, but also reflect your personality. This will voice out your opinions and insight among your PLN and create opportunities for people in your PLN to build connections with you. By carefully curating your posts over a period of time, you can build credibility for yourself among your PLN and and they can look to you as a leader in your chosen space. A PLN should never be a one way street, it should be a way for you to help others as well. The more you contribute to your PLN, the more others will want to help you (Woods, 70)
References
Woods, Bianca. “Building your own PLN: seeking new insights and ideas? Expand your personal learning network.” T+D, vol. 67, no. 11, Nov. 2013, p. 70+. Gale OneFile: Business, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A348998538/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=ITBC&xid=1010abdf. Accessed 8 Mar. 2021.