Consider how you would curate your social media with a critical public audience.

Social media users can take proactive steps to address the negative comments and critiques on their values. First, they shouldn’t divert to the blame game. They should be accountable for the post even if they disagree with the comment. The user can email or inbox the person with the negative comment to amicably discuss the issue further (Bertot, 2012). Second, the user should be respectful when handling such issues. They should directly communicate in a way that reflects their brand. Third, the user shouldn’t get defensive over the negative comment. They should instead open up a dialogue in a friendly way. Last, they need to respond with a prompt solution. Posting a straightforward solution to make things right and help the fans move on from the negativity.

Identify the risks and benefits of engaging with a public audience in a media space – what are the risks for a public figure or person in a position of trust (educator, lawyer, government official)?

Engaging with a public audience in a media space presents several benefits to individuals. First, it brings value from social media platforms beyond internet business activities like driving sales and distributing content. Second, it increases brand recognition. It gives the public figure the right platform to improve their recognition among the target audience (Attai, 2017). Third, media spaces such as social media present the best way to interact with the target audience without physical meetings. This can effectively lead to brand awareness. Fourth, it can be used as a viral campaign and promotional tool. Public figures can always use media spaces like social media for exclusive deals with the government or other institutions. public figure or an individual in a prominent position may experience devastating experiences from public engagement in media spaces. For instance, some malicious people may take their accounts over to extort money from them. This can potentially lead to the spread of fake news about the public figure to the fans to ruin fan engagement. Second, they may experience the risk of spearphishing (Attai, 2017). This risk involves attackers sending malicious links to the company and directing fans to fake accounts. Third, they may encounter impersonations of their brand. Fourth, others may create fake social media accounts to lure fans into following them. Last but not least, it could lead to piracy.  This can happen due to the unaffiliated hijacking of accounts to advertise on fake accounts and websites.

Consider how to best address negative replies and critiques reflective of your personal values and employer social media policy?

Three significant risks are associated with such kind of engagement. First, it can adversely present the impact of word of mouth. This happens mainly when the negative news spread throughout the internet like wildfire and bloggers start spreading negative information on the target person (Walster, 2017). Second, cybersecurity threats may impede the successful implementation of the objectives of such engagement. Information leaks and breaches could have devastating effects on the image of the users or brand image. Third, the user may encounter credibility issues. Poor usage of media spaces could potentially lead to viral outrage, which may ruin the user’s reputation in a broader spectrum.

Open dialogues about media literacy and factual information can create conflict, why does this happen?

Open dialogues about media literacy and factual information are imperative for nurturing equitable access to knowledge and information. However, this process often leads to conflicts because of conflicts of interest between the two parties involved in the dialogue. Internal conflicts may spontaneously happen as the fighting parties may not have the relevant understanding of the existing political systems that government information literacy (Attai, 2017). This may also occur due to the violation of freedom of expression and information sharing. Others may not understand media influence in providing information, and this could result in unnecessary conflicts.

What is the benefit of having a PLN that values media literacy?

First, it encourages people to inquire, evaluate, appreciate, and comprehend the different cultures available through media literacy. Second, it establishes a shared environment that fosters the culture of learning through the media spaces (Bertot, 2012). Third, it encourages the youth to utilize multimedia tools as a sophisticated means of communicating actively. Fourth, it engages young people into political systems and real-world issues that enable them to visualize themselves as potential contributors to the public service. Fifth, it helps people evaluate media representation by showing them how to differentiate between fantasy and reality and shape their lives accordingly.

References

Attai, D. J., Anderson, P. F., Fisch, M. J., Graham, D. L., Katz, M. S., Kesselheim, J., … & Dizon, D. S. (2017, October). Risks and benefits of Twitter use by hematologists/oncologists in the era of digital medicine. In Seminars in hematology (Vol. 54, No. 4, pp. 198-204). WB Saunders.

Bertot, J. C., Jaeger, P. T., & Hansen, D. (2012). The impact of polices on government social media usage: Issues, challenges, and recommendations. Government information quarterly, 29(1), 30-40.