Saturday, February 5, 2011

Egypt and Social Media Lessons

As we all know, a country shut down their ENTIRE INTERNET (both its hosted sites and accessibility) to try to quell a revolution.  Facebook and Twitter seem to be the main culprits.  First off: whoa.  Secondly, and I think this is key: it didn't work.  These websites are merely the tools of social media, not social media itself.  The spirit of social media lies within its users.

Ready for a favorite question of mine?  So what?  Well, let's not ignore the social media message here: outlets like Facebook and Twitter are here, and they're pretty important right now.  They may not be around forever, but humans will always find ways to use whatever tools they have to connect with each other.  So how do we use that?

Or maybe it's not important how we use it, but that we use it.  As a teacher, I have a professional facebook account.  This allows me to connect with students and parents in an easy way.  I can post information there, random videos, fun little quotes and sayings, and there's a level of connection.  I've tutored students through facebook, answered questions about projects, etc.  That's a basic and simple use.  But social media is here.  Let's not be afraid of it!  Let's find ways to best use it for our students and for our schools.  It's free and it's easy to use.  Why would we not figure out how to make it work for us?

2 comments:

  1. I agree. Social media is here and lets use it to our advantage. I recently attended a conference where I heard Ben Mezrich speak, the author of the book that Social Network was based on. Social Networking tools are amazing because of the possibilities and the amount of people using them.

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  2. This is an instance when fear is out weighing logic. It makes me very sad to think that someone actually thinks that they can put a lid on progress so that the generation with tunnel vision can remain in control.

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