How to Create a PLN
Below, you will find several popular platforms used to create a professional learning network. You will also find a short description of each of the platforms along with a tutorial video explaining how to join each one.
Twitter is a social media website that is free to join and allows members to share short posts of 140 characters or less. Members can search a variety of topics using a hashtag, for example #education. Twitter also helps you to connect with other people by "following" them. This means that their tweets (or posts) will show up on your newsfeed when you log-in.
Facebook is a social media website that makes it easy to connect with other people online. Many people use it to connect with family and friends, sharing photos and other personal information; however, you may also find that creating a facebook for professional purposes may be helpful. You can "friend" individual people, join groups designed around specific topics, or subscribe to well-known individuals.
Instagram is a social media platform in which pictures and short videos are the main source of communication. Users have the ability to take and edit photos or videos and post them to either a public or private audience. They can also search for different topics using a hashtag (#) and comment or "like" a photo or video. When users "like" a photo or video, it automatically saves it to their profile so they can revisit it at a later time.
Pinterest is an online platform that allows its users to share ideas visually through the use of photos or videos that usually link to another website of some sort. Users can create boards on their site that usually have a common theme, such as education, fitness, DIY, etc. They can then browse different categories and "pin" things that they find that interests them to their corresponding board. This allows users to revisit the sites they have saved to use at a later time.