Social media+students=success?
So, is social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) ruining students? Perhaps, but there’s a lot more to examine here.
I, too, have suffered from the let-me-procrastinate-on-my-paper-by-playing-hours-of-Bejeweled but is that really social media’s fault? Was it any different from vegging out in front of the TV?
At the same time, isn’t social media the new way to connect and inform students of updates. In a recent poll by AP-Viacom, students stated that “laptop computers were the top item they use in the classroom for note-taking, followed by smart phones, cameras, audio recorders, tablet computers and camcorders.” Social media is the way to reach students where they already are (their computers and phones). Smart codes in advertising utilize this tech-focus to expand the experience. Why should students considering stopping this?
Another issue, is that different social media attract different followers. In Joel Comm’s book, Twitter Power, he notes that there are socioeconomic and educational differences between Facebook and Twitter users. While Joel’s book first came out a few years ago and Twitter has mainstreamed itself a lot more, the 2010 infographic below still highlights some variations in user-type that may attribute more to why Twitter users work a bit better than Facebook users.
Facebook vs Twitter Infographic – DigitalSurgeons.com.
While I still struggle to get my students to use their school email and built-in Google Docs, what have people’s experiences been with Twitter/Facebook in the classroom?
What the Tweet are you doing?
I couldn’t resist sharing David Letterman’s Top Ten signs that you might be spending too much time on Twitter. And on that note, enjoy the new Twitter feed feature in the left-hand column. While Twitter could seem annoying or a time waster (and yes it can be both), I find that just finding information using the feed is fantastic. In the library field, job listings from LibGig, professional development articles from American Libraries, and updates from national organizations like ACRL are just some of the ways I can simply, easily, and in one brief part of my day stay in touch with the professional world. Given that I also live in a mostly TV-less house, I use the NPR, NYTimes, and BBC World News. Even universities are finding that Twitter is helping boost student participation in the larger classroom settings, as students don’t have to worry about interrupting their professor but can still get their question asked and answered in real time. So while many people do enjoy waiting for Lady Gaga’s lunch order and I definitely see and participate in the not-so-brain-intensive aspects of the site, I’m still happy its there and think it makes me a better librarian and better informed citizen. Who do you follow?
Twitter-riffic
Although I started using Twitter almost a year ago now (wow, has time flown by), this week seems the universe seems to want me to move beyond my current, occasional playing with the social media resource to learn more about the power that has led this VC-run idea to become the phenomenon that it is. As part of a new routine, I’m making more time to walk, and hence, I need more audiobooks to consume as part of the needed distraction away from such said exercise. In Joel Comm’s Twitter Power, I’ve been able to have a well-crafted review of the various other social media sites, hear how they compare and contrast with Twitter, and look forward to hearing more about his advice and techniques for making Twitter work for me. While the some of the advice thus far (I’m about 1.5 hours out of an almost 6.5 hour audiobook) is a bit of the tediously obvious (make sure you choose the right username so people can find you; make sure to link your website to your Twitter profile, etc.), his additional advice as to how to add multiple websites to your profile gives me hope that I’ll actually learn something from the book. The book does have a sales/advertising bent, but I figure the methods will still apply to the general outreach my library may need to promote programs, events, and new resources.
On another note, my ProjectMuse Twitter feed helped me stumble upon a Society for Scholarly Publishing blog entry regarding the relationship between Twitter and scholarly communication. For the academics among us, Clarke’s concise discussion does an excellent job providing the short hand notes to the Twitter discussion as well as indicating Twitter’s value as a general social media tool apart from others like Facebook. Furthermore, he ties the topic back into the idea of scholarly communication today. To say the least, I highly recommend perusing this entry for even the avid librarian Twitter user.
Now, in relation to all of these, what have you, in the nebulous fog of the blogosphere, discovered in your Twitter-riffic adventures?
