When I first began this subject, like any normal Gen Y/millennial, I thought I had a good understanding of social media: what it was, how and what (and not) to post, the importance of privacy controls, and which platforms were best for which type of content. I expected to delve more into how information organisations use social media, the most popular platforms, and how to construct social media policies. I anticipated that it would involve looking at examples of what information organisations have done on various platforms and analysing what worked and what didn’t. I have learnt these things … although with considerably less time spent scrolling through Twitter and Facebook or watching funny library videos on YouTube than I was first hoping. But I have also learnt so much more.

Looking back to the beginning of the subject, I believe I had a certain amount of what you could almost describe as social media illiteracy, although I didn’t know it. I believed I knew and understood a lot about social media. Growing up I can remember a time before mobile phones, home computers, the internet, and especially social media. I thought that gave me a greater understanding of social media platforms and how they work than the generations who were born into this digital age, the ‘digital natives’. I viewed social media simply as platforms that enabled us to be social in an online space. This subject has challenged that view and shown me that there is so much more to social media. I have learnt how social media can be used to further professional development and create personal learning networks. This is something that is important to me as information professional. As an introvert who is also quite shy, I find networking hard and this is not a unique problem. In her blog post Hume (2022) writes about how introverts can use social media to build their professional networks so that when it is needed, networking in person at conferences and other events becomes easier because you will have already met many of the people and forged connections with them online. I believe social media is good tool for me to build connections with other information professionals and grow my professional networks in an environment in which I’m comfortable.

Before this subject I regularly used Facebook and Instagram and occasionally Twitter. I watched videos on YouTube but only rarely. I often avoided going on Twitter due to the large amount to tweets and retweets by people and organisations that I follow. I felt it was exhausting and extremely time consuming trying to keep up. Consequently, I limited myself to Facebook and Instagram, feeling that with these two platforms I was able to have worthwhile engagements with the people and organisations I wanted without out being overwhelmed by the deluge of posts. I was aware of other social media platforms but had no interest in joining them. I know for one subject in my degree I will have to create a LinkedIn account and I wasn’t looking forward to having yet another social media platform to tend to. This exhaustion and types of negative feelings relating to social media are referred to as social media fatigue. Technopedia (2011) defines this as a social media user’s “tendency to pull back from social media when they become overwhelmed with too many social media sites, too many friends and followers, and too much time spent online maintaining these connections”. However, over the course of the subject my interest in and engagement with other platforms has increased and I have a more positive view on social media. I still find Twitter a bit overwhelming but I’m now more open to using it for networking and professional development. I can admit that I still haven’t created a LinkedIn account, however I have begun to use LinkedIn Learning through my library which has been a worthwhile experience. It has given me access and enabled me to complete a series of short courses about management and leadership which have been an immediate help as I’ve taken up a new team leader position at work. They will also be beneficial for further career development as I transition from student to qualified information professional.

As I worked through the readings within the modules my awareness and understanding of issues in the online social environment increased. Prior to completing the readings, I knew of some issues like privacy, the digital divide and information and digital literacy. I was interested to learn more about diversity and inclusiveness especially through the perspective of Australian First Nations people in the article by Carlson and Kennedy (2021) Us Mob Online: The Perils of Identifying as Indigenous on Social Media. It is important to practice removing the world views we have grown up with and stepping outside our comfort zones to consider issues from the perspective of others, especially diverse and minority peoples. Through this we can be better equipped to use language which is more inclusive, create programs and offer services which better reflect our diverse communities and ensure everyone feels welcome within our information organisations. The readings also taught me how social media can be used to harm others especially with the increasing prevalence of ‘cancel culture’. It is important to be aware of issues such as this and the effects they can have on a person’s mental and physical health, as well the impacts they can have on society at large. Schwab (2021) suggests the growing digital divide is in part responsible for this negative use of social media as it can inflame social tensions and create a responsive environment in which extreme ideas and ideologies can spread. I would argue that in this digital age, ignorance is not bliss, it is dangerous. What you don’t know can hurt you.

Constructing a blog and online learning journal was a new experience for me. While I have completed some reflective exercises during my studies, this was the first time I was required to create a blog and contribute to it. My blog changed and grew as I did throughout the semester. I enjoyed working out how to set up the different features, using categories and tags, experimenting with different themes, and finding out what my style is. This type of learning can be defined as experiential learning. Kolb described experiential learning in 1984 as “the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (as cited in Fowler & Thomas, 2015, p. 182). Viewing the blogs of my classmates also helped me to learn what I did and didn’t like, what worked well for visitors to the blog and what didn’t, and how I could use this to make mine better and more user friendly. Continuing from Kolb’s definition of experiential learning, Fowler and Thomas explain that “Kolb’s process suggests that experience is essential for learning to take place, thus necessitating active participation or interaction on the student’s behalf” (2015, p. 182). While I’m happy with the end result, I know further changes are a possibility as I continue to grow as an information professional. It is my intention to continue posting to it after the subject is finished. I believe completing the INF305 subject in the upcoming semester will help to solidify the habit of reflective practice and contributing to my blog. My aim is to create and maintain a blog of my professional practice that, like Mewburn (2015) notes of her blog, “gives you a good sense of who I am and what I do” (para. 11).

Whereas I enjoyed constructing my blog, I found writing the contributions to my online learning journal harder. Thomas (2017) explains that “while reflection is identified as a dialogue with oneself, a blog expands this visibility of self-dialogue to a broader public space, encouraging public participation and consumption through its comment feature” (p.113). As an inherently shy person, putting my thoughts and ideas, my work, out there in a public form, was hard for me and consequently, I struggled with what to write and how to write it. Moon (2006) acknowledges that journal writing can be hard for some students, and trust can play a part in that. Allowing other people to view what can be a private exercise requires a level of trust some students struggle with. As the semester has progressed, I have built up a small level of trust in making my thoughts and learning public, and I don’t find contributing to my online learning journal as hard as I did in the beginning, although I’m still not a comfortable doing it as I would like. I believe that like any skill, the more I practice writing and posting to my blog, the easier it will become.

Despite struggling with writing contributes for my online learning journal the OLJ tasks were interesting and beneficial to my learning as a social networker and information professional. They provided structure for my contributions but also gave me the freedom to explore more on the topics that interested me and ultimately introduced me to new ideas and concepts which I could use to create new knowledge and build upon the knowledge I already had. Moon (2006) notes that learning journals are not just about knowledge building, such as you do from textbooks, which is a passive learning exercise. Rather, they require the learner to take a more active role in their learning, to link what they have learnt to previous knowledge and experiences and assimilate this into their existing collective knowledge (Moon, 2006). Through completing the OLJ tasks, I have learnt that while I do possess some of the skills and characteristics that will help me succeed as an information professional in the Web 2.0 world, there are still some areas in which I need to improve, particularly in the areas of advocacy and outreach. I have already been able to incorporate the knowledge I gained about analysing the success of Twitter feeds in constructing a social media project in my workplace.

Looking back over this semester, I have grown both as a social networker and emerging information professional. I have learnt more than I thought I would and now have a greater understanding of social networking sites and social media, how social media policies can help organisations to effectively use platforms to meet their organisational goals and some of the key issues in the online social environment. As the fourth industrial revolution continues to change society and our lives becomes ever more digitised, the knowledge and experience I have gained in this subject will help to prepare me for working in the Library 4.0 and beyond.

References

Carlson, B. & Kennedy, T. (2021). Us mob online: The perils of identifying as indigenous on social media. Genealogy, 5(2), 52. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy5020052

Fowler, K., & Thomas, V. L. (2015). Creating a professional blog: The impact of student learning styles on perceptions of learning. Journal of marketing education, 37(3), 181-189. https://doi.org/10.1177/0273475315585824

Hume, S. (2022, January 13). Networking for introverts. Hack Library School. https://hacklibraryschool.com/2022/01/13/networking-for-introverts/

Mewburn, I. (2015, August 11). Scholar, google thyself. The Thesis Whisperer. https://thesiswhisperer.com/2015/08/11/scholar-google-thyself

Moon, J. A. (2006). Learning journals: A handbook for reflective practice and professional development (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis Group.

Schwab. K. (2021, January). The fourth industrial revolution: What it means, how to respond. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond

Technopedia. (2017). Social media fatigue. https://www.techopedia.com/definition/27372/social-media-fatigue

Thomas, S. (2017). Journalogue: Voicing student challenges in writing through a classroom blog. Educational Technology and Society, 20(1), 112-122