Living in the 21st century brings one certainty alongside it, the popularization of social media and the internet. Even though, new social media have been expanding information to people that before were not that interesting topic such as politics, and the economy, the rise of social media has been affecting to a large extend traditional journalism. 
As stated in the book Navigating Social Journalism: A Handbook for Media Literacy and Citizen Journalism by Martin Hirst in chapter 6, social journalists face uncertainty pursuing their dream. With new content farms being created, the exploitation of these writers has increased tremendously. Alongside that, I think that the trend of independent editorials is to increasingly rise. This brings the importance that a PLN can have on these people. Having a niche online can be extremely comforting especially when their workspace is directly related to it. Having a personal learning network connects people and teaches them to learn new ways of entering a market reaching their target audience.