I find Social Media to be a powerful tool for communication. In my opinion, the number one social media that acts as both a social and informative platform is Instagram.
Instagram to me has the capability to provide an inclusive and diverse network community. It is able to display videos,videos with subtitles, photos, comments from other users, direct messages, and allows you to create multiple accounts with the option for a business friendly account.
Many businesses uses Instagram to display either advertisement for their company, or even a message they want the audience to know they support. In regards to using Instagram as a PLN, Instagram provides a search engine to look up practically anything you can think of. Anyone can post their knowledge or beliefs on a topic, and that’s what makes Instagram so inclusive, it is that it is accebile by all, and helps amplify the perspective other than yourself.
If there is one downfall in using Instagram as a PLN, it is that Instagram could be heavily based on “Trends.” In other words, if the topic is popular, there will be more content out for display, thus more communications about it. However, if its something that majority of the population does not seem into, then there is a lack of foundation compared to something that is trending. Contradicting to this statement is that, once there is a trending theme, it spreads like a wildfire, creating a mass communication to the network, an advantage of using social media for a PLN.
With all that has been said, if I were to create a PLN, I would use a form of a current popular social media such as Instagram. It is a platform that is trending/current, informative, accessible, and inclusive.