Youtube

What is Youtube?

Youtube is a network and a social media platform that has been around for 18 years. It is one of the longest standing social networks. It is a video-based platform where users are able to post whatever they desire for the consumers to enjoy. It is possible to create an account in order to post videos, subscribe to other people’s channels, comment, and even to like or dislike a video. Overall, it is an extremely powerful search engine that has many key features that allows you to reach a bigger range of people for either your individual Personal Learning Network or even a larger business. 

I believe it to be extremely important to explain why I believe this specific form of social media is considered a PLN. Firstly, a PLN can be described as the interaction between individuals or communities where we share our resources, opinions, ideas, and questions. It is a self-created space that has the ability to grow and to reach many people and places. YouTube is a network that does exactly this. It is a space where you are able to post videos on whatever you desire. For example, there is a scientist and historian who created a YouTube account, Hank Green. With his account, he shares many videos which are considered “crash courses”. In these videos, he explains and teaches his viewers about important scientific things. When I was in high school, we were learning about DNA replication in Biology but I was having a difficult time understanding the concept. Hank Green had posted a couple videos simply and accurately defining DNA replication and by watching these videos I was able to expand my learning and understanding. This example is directly related to what a PLN is, Hank Green is able to post information regarding his own understanding of things and share it in order for consumers to interact with this information and learn. 

What features & characteristics of existing media technologies make it effective for Personal Learning?

Similarly to many other networks or forms of social media, YouTube has specific characteristics and features that allow you to engage and enhance your personal learning network. For example, it is run by a highly enhanced search engine. You are able to type in even just a singular word and it will show you thousands of videos similar to the word you searched for. This allows individuals to not only have those videos shown to others easily but for the others to find many different opinions/views on a topic at the same time. Furthermore, when you are creating a video you are able to create an eye-grabbing title to draw consumers to what you are sharing. You can add in a description to the video that includes relevant keywords in order to optimize search potential and to make it simple for the viewer to know that this is exactly what they are looking for. YouTube also has a “Recommended for You” feature, where they display videos that they believe are what you are interested in without you needing to search. This makes it effective for Personal Learning because it allows you to engage with the network and receive new information without even having to look for it. 

How can you create a PLN through YouTube? In what ways does it allow you to enhance your digital identity?

Digital identity and reputation are extremely prevalent in our society today. Individuals are able to build a stable career off of engaging with social media, specifically YouTube. But I want to discuss specific ways you can enhance your online identity on YouTube. Here is a step-by-step description of how you can create and enhance your PLN using YouTube as the network of choice. 

1. Before even creating an account, it is essential to understand what exactly you would like to share in your videos. You are able to choose anything you want, it can be anywhere from educational to daily vlogs (and anywhere in between). There are no rules surrounding what you are able to post, I just believe that consistency is key. If you decide to create an educational youtube account where you teach people about astronomy, it is vital that you are consistent with this theme in order to enhance your digital identity on the network. Another key aspect of what your account will entail is to make it something you are passionate about! You will be making a lot of videos on the subject so make sure you love it! 
2. Now you are able to create your account. Many individuals use their own name as a way of associating their YouTube account to their PLN. For example, if all of your social media accounts and interactions are associated with your name, it can make it simple to continue and develop that identity.  
3. When you begin posting videos it can be beneficial to edit them in order to make it as concise and clear as possible. In fact, individual’s will often edit humor into their videos to increase consumer interaction. In addition, create an engaging and short video title. You want this title to be something that grabs the attention of the viewer. Unlike other forms of social media, when it comes to YouTube there is no way to join other groups with like-minded people. It is very much if people are able to find your account and they enjoy your videos, you will succeed. 
4. Lastly, post your content! Make sure you are interacting with any comments and posting consistently!  

You will know whether your presence on the platform is a success when you begin to gain a lot of subscribers. Subscribers are individuals who enjoy what you are sharing and who are now following along closely to new things that you post. In addition, if your presence is gaining success you are able to obtain a monetary gain from YouTube. This can be from adding advertisements to your videos, brand deals, or if you reach a certain level of success YouTube itself will reimburse you for a certain amount of views and/or likes you receive on a video. 

What are some dangers of a PLN and social media? 

I believe that when it comes to all forms of social media, not just YouTube specifically, it is essential to always be cautious with what you are sharing and what you are consuming. We have discussed a couple negative aspects of PLN’s throughout this class, one of which being fake news. YouTube is a network that is guilty of this. Due to the fact that individuals are able to share whatever they desire, they are able to share things that may have no truth to them. I mentioned previously the example of Hank Green and his educational YouTube videos. I would consistently watch his videos and use them as a study tool for exams. I put complete trust into what he was describing to me without actually knowing if it was fact or not. This is an example of how we, as consumers, can put complete trust into what we see online and how, consequently, fake news can spread like wildfire. Now I am able to understand how to look at information online and know whether it is trustworthy. When it comes to Hank Green, he was able to enhance his presence and prove his accuracy by citing trustworthy, peer-reviewed articles in his videos and by explaining exactly how he knows this information. Overall, it is essential to take everything we see online with a grain of salt and to understand that perhaps what I am watching needs to be looked into a little bit more. 

In addition, during this course we have discussed the issue of privacy when it comes to social media and PLN’s. As mentioned in the surveillance and society paper written by Danah Boyd, we are losing a lot of our right to privacy because of our PLN’s. I mentioned in one of my blogs how important privacy is to myself, as an individual, but also to everyone in our society. However, it is essential to maintain a level of transparency in order to be successful when it comes to social media. People are able to look deep into our lives the second we engage with other networks and even our own PLN. It is the same with YouTube and, therefore, it is essential to be cautious when posting. We are creating what can be considered a “digital footprint” where everything we post online, even if we delete it, is out there and findable forever. In an article written by Hassan & Hijazi (2017), this “digital footprint” phenomenon and overall online privacy is described. In fact, the authors describe the concept of the ever-changing digital security and how we can protect others and ourselves from the dangers of the internet. 

What are some aspects of YouTube that can be beneficial to your PLN?

I have discussed the negatives of social media, but I do believe that it is equally important to discuss the positives. As we have discussed throughout this course, social media allows for communication and for growth. Your PLN allows you to reach more people and further away. As an example, imagine your job was to teach people how to crochet. Without networks, you may only have 5 students who follow your lessons. But with networks, you decide to create a YouTube account where you post video tutorials of how to crochet different items. You now are able to reach millions of people and all of these individuals are able to interact and learn from your PLN. 

References

Boyd, D. (2012). Networked Privacy. Surveillance & Society, 10(3/4), 348–350. https://doi.org/10.24908/ss.v10i3/4.4529
Hassan, N., & Hijazi, R. (2017). Digital Privacy and Security Using Windows A Practical Guide (1st ed. 2017.). Apress. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-2799-2