To Tweet or not to Tweet...

As an avid Facebook user, I have only used twitter on rare occasions to social network.  I recently opened a new user account under my Ed Tech course name to communicate with my instructor and fellow class members.  I will say the same things that annoyed me before with twitter still annoy me.

I always wondered why they limit the amount of words you can type.  I guess it trains the long-winded ones to get straight to the point.  Aside from that, I can see that I would rather use twitter for a specific purpose (like collaborating) rather than simply as a social network.  I originally started using twitter because I am a musician and I was able to keep track of latest trends in the music industry as well as read tweets and reply to famous musical celebrities that I would otherwise not be able to communicate with.

My experience thus far has proven very useful in sharing thoughts and ideas with my fellow classmates in the Ed Tech course.  It is my hopes to continue using twitter and become more familiar with it as a social networking site and maybe (if district policies change) use it to collaborate and share ideas with my students.

Embrace The Future! It's just better that way...

It seems everywhere we go, we are overrun with technology and social media.  With all the growing concerns and negativity towards social media, I would like to take a minute to shed a positive light on a tool that can help take us into the future.

This video highlights a lot of statistics about social media.  One statistic stated that social media has become the number one activity on the web.  Innately, humans are very social creatures.  So why does it seem that social media is not more openly embraced in to day's society by everyone.  Just take a look at this picture of my family and I waiting for a table at a local restaurant...

Picture says it all.  Some of the negative feedback being generated from social media is that fact that we have become so cyber-social, we are becoming less physically social.  We have an awesome responsibility to embrace the future and embrace social media but not let it totally consume our lives.

The fact that this video mentioned the launch of the new Ford Explorer gaining more attention through social media than a Super Bowl commercial means proves that social media can help business generate revenue, increase sales, and gain access to less expensive marketing for their products.  As a tinkerer, I enjoy being able to search YouTube for instructional videos that show direct hands-on applications to small jobs I otherwise would have no clue how to do.

I am a car enthusiast.  In 2002, I was able to use a YouTube video to aid me in taking an entire car apart and installing hundreds of dollars of aftermarket engine products.  Now I am by no means a mechanic, but it just goes to show you how resourceful social media can be.  

Before I quit jabbering, think about this.  Without social media, would you be able to keep track of the latest news? How bout your favorite celebrity's "going-ons"? I don't even have to mention the distinct advantage of interacting with family and loved ones that live miles away or are deployed over seas in the military.

So before you turn a negative eye to social media, give it a try.  And as always, use in moderation but that's another illustration and my time is up...