In this week’s blog post I will be discussing how I would effectively create a PLN prior to creating a podcast. Based on the required video ‘BUILDING A PODCAST’ with Mo Amir, and Wood’s (2013) ‘Building your own PLN’, I gained valuable tips and tricks to successfully expand my PLN. 

Prior to building my podcast, I would explore a niche topic among one of my interests to build the foundation of my PLN. I feel that this will engage a like-minded audience to participate in conversation rather than a more mainstream topic. Highlighted by both Woods and Mo, I would begin creating a PLN on Twitter as it would engage the largest number of users. Twitter is an intuitive platform and those ranging from young-old would be able to participate. Further, I would connect with those whom I’ve had conversations with similar interests and that would find my podcast/PLN resourceful. 

Once I’ve created and connected with an audience on my PLN, I would begin to start promoting my podcast. Hopefully, as I made this PLN with the intent to grow my podcast, my networks would not find my promotion tweets as spam. I feel as though we need to leverage some sort of technology in order to attract a larger audience. Further, I would consider having networks on my show that are frequently engaging in conversation (subtweeting, direct messaging, etc.). This would expand their PLN with networks I’ve created and vice versa. 

Although the main goal of creating a podcast for many is to gain a large audience, I hope it would not go out of control. The majority of smaller content creators do this as a hobby therefore, for personal and privacy reasons, I would hope it wouldn’t grow ‘too large’. To expand on this, I would ensure that my personal life and online life are kept separate for my privacy and others. Issues/concerns for individuals that have created a large social platform is that someone is always watching. For many younger content creators, they don’t realize that their audience is looking at every minor detail, therefore, ensuring the content uploaded is non-offensive is key. 

 

BUILDING A PODCAST – With Mo Amir @vancolour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyODAhviQyA

Woods, Bianca. “Building your own PLN: seeking new insights and ideas? Expand your personal learning network.” T+D, vol. 67, no. 11, Nov. 2013, p. 70+. Gale OneFile: Business, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A348998538/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=ITBC&xid=9daf4a31. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.