Thank you for agreeing to take part in this interview today. Could I just confirm that you have completed the participant consent form (https://www.survey.ed.ac.uk/socmedconsent/) and are happy for me to save and access these chat transcripts for my research?
I’m going to ask a few questions, firstly on your network and the people you connect to via social media around learning and professional development, then on the types of activities you take part in on social media. I also have a few questions based on your survey answers which I will try and include as well. Does that sound ok?
Network (people)
Q1 Thinking about how you learn or take part in professional development in social media could you say a bit about how you found or built up your network on social media?
Do you think there are distinct professional networks or communities of experts that you are part of?
Do you think your experience of learning via social media is unique to you or shared with others
Q2 Are the people you communicate with, who provide support or information for your learning, the same people you may already be in touch with in another medium?
How do you decide to trust information or expertise of those you don’t know in other ways?
How important are mutual connections/recommendations from known peers for you?
Q3 Do you separate your Personal and Professional personas in social media? Can you say a bit more about how you present yourself in these spaces?
Do you present yourself in the same way on all social media spaces?
How do you feel about blurring professional and personal identities?
Activities (CPD)
Q4 How do you feel learning takes place or manifests itself in social media?
Is this different from learning in other spaces?
Is owning you own choices in this space important here?
When you interact via social media this is often very public - does that change how you use or how you feel about those interactions?
Q5 How do you filter through information?
How do you do this?
Is it serendipidous?
Do you begin with a particular goal or learning outcome in mind?
Q6 Do you use specialist social media sites - communities for your specialist area, training networks or similar?
Do these feel different from other social media spaces?
Do these spaces feel more professionally valid than mainstream social media spaces?
Very few people talked about using these spaces - do have any comments on why this might be the case?
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