Intending to examine my professional networks, I started by creating a visual map of the groups I belong to or have an affiliation with. My current workplace became the centre to which my groups connected and where I saw myself situated. I continued my visual reflection by adding the digital tools I introduced in my digital presence blog and, using a different colour for each tool, I added the digital network that connected my groups to each other and myself. I was surprised to see that my program Facebook page showed up as a connector between all my groups, turning them into a professional network. I had sworn of facebook a couple of years ago, not really giving it any recognition as a tool to connect my professional communities; now I will have to reconsider its role within my digital networks. ‘The digital environments most closely associated with networks are social networking sites’ Veletianos (2016) wrote, and ‘[w]hile groups have boundaries, networks do not, and it is difficult to establish who is in and who is not in a network‘. I have just started to reengage with LinkedIn and I was curious to see what my participation in this network community would look like. I used socilab.com to create a visual map of interactions within this digital tool
My networking was off to a good start with most of my new LinkedIn connections sitting firmly to the left within my group of chosen professionals in early child development.
Now I wanted to inquire about my newest tool, which I had not included in my plan but had since adopted, Twitter. I am a real newbie on Twitter and I cannot compete with people who have used this networking tool for years. Using tweepsmap.com you cannot imagine my surprise when I discovered that within a week of using Twitter I had generated 75 followers, 50 in Canada and 25 in the UK.
The interesting part about this is, that I have no clue who most of these people are and something that Veletianos (2016) said really rang true ‘[t]he range of relationships afforded by contemporary social media (e.g., friends, followers, etc.) are relatively flat…’ Having 75 followers within a week suddenly sounded more hollow, yet I do not want to minimize the possibilities that suddenly presented themselves to me: I have an audience!
I am excited to see that my digital presence within professional networks is growing and that what I have to share or say is finding an audience.
Refrences
Veletsianos, G. (2016).Digital Learning Environments. In Rushby, N. & Surry D. (Eds) Handbook of Learning Technologies (pp. 242-260). Wiley.
