My Social Networks

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As a part of this week’s activities, we were asked to show a visual of our digital networks. The visual above was created with Kumu. Kumu transforms an excel spreadsheet into a visual to show networks and connections. Each node represents a person that I am connected with. From the legend, youcan see that the networks represented include Facebook, Instagram, Gmail, and Snapchat.

 While many people used their data from linked in to create their network, I do not have a strong digital presence on linked in, so the data was retrieved individually from each platform. This presented challenges within my network. While this visual paints a clear picture of what my digital network looks like at a glance, it is not accurate. In “real life” there are many more connections between social platforms. My friends, coworkers, and peers do not use the same name consistently on all social media platforms. Kumu did not make the connection between a Facebook friend named Kristine Irvine who goes by @kristy_irvine on Instagram, therefore leaving gaps within my networks. This highlights the importance of understanding your digital footprint within digital networks. To expand my digital presence it is important to understand how to create a digital presence that remains continuous among different social platforms.

George Veletsiano in his chapter on Digital Learning Environments describes two types of participation in digital networks, friendship-driven, and interest-driven. George defines friendship-driven participation as “behaviours and interactions with peers as [we] go about day-to-day activities” (Veletsiano, 2016, 224). This is different then interest-driven participation as interest-driven participation is “activities structured around interests, hobbies and /or career aspirations” (Veletsiano, 2016, 224). Looking at my map according to George Veletsiano my participation in my digital network is heavily friendship-driven. My interactions within my digital networks are often instant messaging, sharing videos, and keeping in touch with friends. Going forward this emphasizes the need to develop more networks that are interest-driven, specifically centered around career aspirations, to expand my connections within my network. 

Reference

Veletsianos, G. (2016). Digital Learning Environments. In N. Rushby & D. Surry (Eds), Handbook of Learning Technologies (pp. 242-260). UK: John Wiley & Sons, Accessed on May 03, 2021. from; https://www.veletsianos.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/digital_learninig_environments.pdf 

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4 Replies to “My Social Networks”

  1. Hi London,

    I like the variety of platforms you used for your map. Differentiating the participation types by friendship-driven and interest-driven is a really great point. I too could benefit from shifting the emphasis over to connecting with others in my field of work and studies. Do you plan on using LinkedIn more in the future for this? What other platforms do you think are most beneficial?

    Melissa

    1. Hi Melissa,

      I think this assignment has highlighted the need to connect using linkedin in order to grow my network. I think the platform that’s most beneficial depends on the intended purpose of why you are networking. For me personally I like to use Instagram and Facebook as they are user friendly and allow you to share a variety of mediums i.e. pictures, videos and links. I just discovered that Instagram has a blog so I am curious to explore that as well.

      Thank you,

      London

  2. Your comments about the separation between the use of social media for friendships and how it differs from a network based on interests is succinct and helps me form my own understanding of my social media groups. Do you think based on what you learned here that you might separate out one or two channels for career and other channels for friendships?

    1. Hello,

      Thank you for your questions! I anticipate as I slowly become more familiar with the networks I interact with, I will separate out a channel for career and for friendship. I believe I have always lacked the career driven channel due to fear of being judged on the content that it shared. The MALAT program has forced me start overcoming that fear. I hope that as I become more comfortable sharing on my blog, I will also become comfortable sharing content in a professional manner.

      Thank you,

      London

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