Social Media allows people to share aspects of their life with the world in real-time. This makes social media extremely engaging in communication because quick interactions and responses can take place, allowing for actual conversation to occur back and forth between participants. Social media often includes different forms of multimedia, making it more engaging for users when communicating as users can convey their messages, thoughts, information, more effectively. Also, because of the multimedia usage, users and viewers can be more interactive with one another by liking and commenting on one another’s content, leaving more room for conversation to happen. The easy accessibility to share and communicate information through social media is great, but also makes reliable communication challenging. As it is super easy for information to spread, it leaves a greater chance for misinformation and fake news to spread due to one’s own bias or just the sharing of misinformation and rumours to take place. When information spreads and people are engaging in communication, inclusivity and diversity is reached as many different types of people from different backgrounds are engaging with one another, ultimately reaching a diverse audience. From our engagement with content and different users, we get to learn from diverse people and as we continue to share their content, we reach further audiences, enabling social media to be more inclusive. Inclusivity is important as it expands our learning growth and allows us to grow our connections. It also allows us to understand and empathize with various perspectives outside from just our own. For example, we can learn from people of different backgrounds and take this information to apply it to our own thinking and problem-solving skills which expands our growth-mindset.

I believe that my PLN amplifies the view of others because social media allows me to connect with professionals and experts in which I can build stronger connections with them. Once I have these connections, I can share their content with others in my network, allowing their view to be amplified and their network to continue growing as well. For example, through LinkedIn, I have gained so many professional connections who have helped me grow in my teaching career and provided me with guidance. Now that I have these connections, I often help others in my program by connecting them to these professionals so that they can receive the same guidance. This is where inclusivity and diversity becomes important. Having an inclusive and diverse PLN in social media sharing gives us the ability to foster a community of continuous learning and further our knowledge through the sharing of our information. As we create diversity in our PLN through conversations, we ensure that we are encouraging positive online engagement showing our respects to all people, regardless of race, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and ability. This will allow the people in our network to feel welcome and want to be active participants to further learnings. From this, we prove to be inclusive as we welcome everyone, allowing our PLN to grow and everyone in it to feel safe. By having a diverse and inclusive PLN, we are encouraging positive online engagement and creating an environment that fosters community and a sense of well-being. It is also important because we are able to grow our critical thinking skills through our new perspective of global, social, economic, and cultural awareness.