What is Facebook?

Facebook is an online  networking site that allows you to connect with family, friends, colleagues, and beyond. Through sharing photos, articles, posts, and more Facebook is a platform that aids communication and connection between users. While Facebook might not be seen as a traditional “personalized learning network” due to the casual nature of communicating with friends, I believe Facebook embodies the characteristics of a PLN. 

Facebook was designed as a hub for content sharing and has slowly changed into a hub for networking and expanding social connections. As we have learned throughout the term, a professional learning network refers to a network (or group) of individuals, resources, and connections that others use to aid their development in some way- whether that be professional or personal development. When reflecting on the main components of PLN’s such as connections, collaboration, learning, teaching, growth, and support, it becomes evident that Facebook has all of these components in some way.


How to set up, maintain, and engage in PLN’s using Facebook

  • First, we know that in order to have a successful PLN you need to be transparent- that includes your identity. The first step to creating a PLN via Facebook would be to set up a profile that is all encompassing of you- use a recent profile photo, add any relevant info etc. We want to make these as personal as we can (while maintaining internet safety, of course), so that others feel comfortable interacting with our PLN. 
  • Next, we need to decide what the goal of our PLN is. Are you using Facebook to communicate with family or friends? Are you using Facebook to contact potential employers? Are you using Facebook to join self help groups/ become a self help PLN? There are many options and we are able to gauge if our PLN has been successful or not.
  • Then – the most important step- reach out to people!! Follow relevant groups, look for pages that align with what you are looking for. Engage with these people, ask and answer questions, give and take support when needed-  be an active member. Communicating through PLN’s is very similar to communicating in an office, the more you reach out and make yourself available, the more resources you will be exposed to- as highlighted by Shelley Moore. 
  • After you have either formed a group or joined a group- share content consistently! Get to know others. You’ll be able to maintain and grow your platform through consistent use.

Personal examples of professional and personal use of my PLN on Facebook

I wanted to provide a specific example of how I followed these steps and created a PLN using Facebook. I like to babysit on weekday nights and weekends to make some extra money. I was having a very hard time finding families to babysit for and I had a friend suggest Facebook. I made a Facebook account with a recent profile photo, accurate personal info, and a small bio about myself. I went to the search bar and typed “Victoria Babysitting”- SO many different groups came up. There must have been at least 10 different groups with a wide variety of people in them. I joined just about every group and uploaded a post. I introduced myself, talked about what I liked doing, my experience babysitting etc. I received over 20 messages just that night! After communicating with these families, I was able to go all around Victoria meeting these families and eventually babysitting for some of them. It ended up being a very successful job for me, that I still do. When I find that families are dwindling off I add a new post and I instantly meet new families. So while babysitting is a very casual job, this shows the possibilities of PLNs- I found jobs on Facebook I never would have got in “real life”. There are also many groups of babysitters that chat about recent families they have babysat for, as well as ones with babysitting advice, etc. Facebook allows you to contact a world of people you would not have run into in daily life. Julie Smith talked about this throughout her interview with professor Jesse Miller- mentioning how social media can be a 24/7 “river of professional development”. These groups on Facebook act as this “river”, you can go onto these pages at any time and receive any feedback you may be looking for.

Another fun way I have used facebook in the past for networking is by joining UVic related groups. I moved to UVic during COVID and had a hard time meeting new people. I went to Facebook and looked up UVIC 2024 and found so many students in the same boat as me! They were all living on campus and wanting to meet new people. I joined a group that ended up meeting one night to go and get dinner- I decided to go and I met three wonderful girls at that dinner- who are now my roommates and have been for the past 2 years! So while it might seem extreme, without Facebook my life would be entirely different. I do not know if I would have met these girls in my time at UVic if it wasnt for this specific Facebook chat. 

I feel these two examples highlight how Facebook is such an amazing platform for connection and collaboration in both personal and professional settings. To me, Facebook encompasses all of the characteristics of a PLN.

What are some ways Facebook tracks data? What are some pros and cons of this?

Facebook does have an algorithm that tracks certain aspects of your account such as accounts you like or who you follow and interact with, and then will recommend you profiles or groups based on that. It uses our data, like many media platforms does, to introduce us to new pages. However, I do not feel that Facebook targets ads as much as apps like Instagram or Tiktok do. From my personal experience I have found that Facebook will recommend groups that are actually quite helpful to me, and not based on selling me products, which I believe serves as an advantage to data tracking. While using data can enhance PLNs through recommending groups, it is very important that they prioritize privacy and data security (View of Networked Privacy, n.d.). Users should be cautious about how much they are choosing to share on platforms such as Facebook. The amount of information that facebook collects is a bit astounding. The Facebook Privacy Policy page states that they collect info from (1) your activity and provided information, (2) your friends information and activity, (3) your app, browser, and device information, and (4) third party information (such as other apps you use). Facebook has a ton of our personal information! Meaning, if Facebook were to experience a data breach- a lot of our info would be at risk. While I do not think we should stop using apps such as Facebook because of this, I think it should be very well known and we should be cautious when using any social media app.

How to build a reputation using Facebook?

As mentioned above, anyone can post on Facebook- which allows for a lot of misinformation. Fake news is everywhere now a days and Facebook is definitely not lacking in that department! A study by CNN found that misinformation gets six times as many clicks compared to factual news (Maruf, 2021). Fake news can come in many different forms, some of it being almost impossible to distinguish (Hirst, 2008)- which is why media literacy is so important. In order to build a positive reputation on Facebook it is important to post reliable, factual information. It is important to stay open to all opinions, even if they make you uncomfortable- as said by Julie Smith. Being consistent, reliable, and respectful with your content is the best way to build a positive reputation via Facebook.

How will you know when your PLN is a success?

Building a reputation on Facebook can be challenging just due to the sheer number of people who use Facebook. I also think it can be hard to visually see how successful your Facebook account is since it seems to be less popular to have ” a lot of followers”, the way it may be on apps like Instagram. However, you can absolutely still achieve a success PLN using Facebook. You will know that your PLN is successful when you achieve whatever your goal was when you started your PLN. One of the first steps I mentioned of creating a PLN is setting a goal- what are you trying to achieve? For me personally, when I joined the babysitting groups my goal was to get a job, once I got a job I considered my PLN to be “successful”. I do not think there is a black and white answer to this question, it really depends on what your intention and goal of the specific PLN is.

Sources

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

Facebook. (n.d.). https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/

Maruf, R. (2021). Researchers studying Facebook misinformation say they were deplatformed. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/05/media/reliable-sources-facebook-researchers-deplatform/index.html

Miller, J. (2021, February 7). EDCI 338- A Conversation with Shelley Moore. Youtube, 23:02.  https://youtu.be/YGx0ejnMLVc

Miller, J. (2021, June 6). EDCI 338 – Media literacy with Julie Smith. Youtube, 30:08. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57r3-aEnci0

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