I try to build a solid reputation through my PLN by always being aware and careful with how I contribute to the people I engage with. The content that I post on social media, the messages I send to people I reach out to and my frequent real-life interactions with the people around me are always reflections of what I want digital identity to be. I do think that so far, my digital identity effectively showcases my intentions to simply gain knowledge and share my knowledge with other people in the most appropriate, kind and respectful way possible. I also make sure to always remain authentic as I think that this conveys my uniqueness and genuiness to others, enabling our interactions to feel natural and enjoyable. Moreover, I think that being authentic and sincere is key to attracting people who will truly enrich your PLN, and it helps maintain those relationships. Overtime, the accumulation of all those things form a digital identity, and this is how I am able to build and maintain my positive reputation.

To build and maintain good relationships in my PLN, I rely on face-to-face and online communication. Through both, I can stay in touch with close people as well as weak links and meet new people through them. For instance, I like to casually chat with the people frequently around me and we tend to share our personal knowledge with each other through those casual conversations, and when relevant, we sometimes connect each other to other people in our respective PLN’s who can contribute to our learning and growth experience in a certain area of our lives. Online, largely through social media platforms, I am able to maintain connections with weak links whom I do not frequently — or ever see, and even be connected to new people through them; either through algorithm suggestions or through conversations with those weak links.

This is how I build a good reputation and form and maintain solid connections in my PLN.