Some Final Thoughts

At the beginning of this class I was overwhelmed at the thought of following 10 social media sites.  I chose 10 at random to subscribe to and I set out determined to really immerse myself in them.  The reality was that while I did immerse myself in social media, it was not necessarily in the original 10 places outlined in my journal.  As I mentioned in my last several entries I barely spent any time with LibraryThing and YouTube and did not even use GoogleTalk at all.  However, if I tally up the social media I was exposed to over the course of the semester, the total is greater than 10.  This was not something I could predict at the beginning of the semester. 

Despite exposure to a large variety of technologies, there are only a few that I view regularly.  I think that this is a function of time and of interest.  With coursework, a new baby and day-to-day responsibilities there are not endless hours to spend in the digital world.  As I result I tend to gravitate to the tools that interested me the most or that filled a need in my life.  Facebook, Weddingbells and blogs were fixtures in my life prior to this class and they continue to be now.  Skype was a new tool that I anticipate remaining in my life beyond this class.  It has proven to be a rich and meaningful way to stay in contact with my in-laws, as well as a valuable tool for collaboration.  The social media I viewed less (Twitter, LinkedIn, LibraryThing, YouTube and GoogleTalk) all seem to be a result of the fact that they don’t really fill a need in my life and therefore I did not make time for them.  My experience with Twitter reinforced this for me.  When there was something of real interest to me (the World Ringette Championships) I made time to participate on Twitter.  Now that it is over, I have dropped using completely.

I have noticed that across all of these tools, people participate to varying degrees.  There are those who update Facebook every hour of the day versus people who have Facebook profiles yet never appear to logon at all.  Of the people I follow on Twitter there are some who tweet several times a day and others who I have yet to read a tweet from.  The same is true across all the other platforms as well.  As a producer of social media I think that I fall somewhere in the middle, I participate regularly, but do not share every detail of my life.  I am comfortable with this decision and I think that should be the determining factor in how much you reveal of yourself and how much you participate in social media.  As a consumer, I also appreciate the mid-range in terms of participation.  If I am following a blog, I appreciate regular updates, yet I feel inundated if a blog is updated too often.  The same was true with Twitter.  I found myself feeling overloaded by tweets from certain people I followed.  I started skipping their updates because I was overwhelmed.  For this reason, I very much appreciated LinkedIn.  There is not nearly as much activity on this social networking site as there is on Facebook and as a result when there is activity I find myself paying much more attention.

Finally, I know that part of the purpose of this journal was to examine how people use social media and how they interact, yet my journal focused heavily on how I used them.  I found it very challenging to move outside of my own experience for this assignment.  I think this is because in a lot of cases I was using tools that were new to me and required a lot of my energy just to navigate and become familiar with. This made it difficult to move to the next stage and focus on what others were doing.  I did manage to pay more attention to what other people were doing with the tools that I was more familiar with like Facebook and Weddingbells.  I was comfortable with the tools and how they worked so I could focus on what others were doing.

Some Follow-Ups

1)  Facebook –  link to Facebook entry

In my first entry about Facebook, I mentioned that I chose not to be friends with my students or former students and I was challenged about this decision in class.  Afterwards, I really thought about this decision and I stand by it an by my explanation for it.  One of the major reasons for refusing students is the fact that they are minors.  I am responsible for reporting any inappropriate or suspect behavior that I see on Facebook and that is not something I want to do in my private time.  I do care about my students, but I do not feel that policing them should extend into my personal and private life.  Some space is a good thing.  If and when I decide to use Facebook with my classes I would have an alternate account strictly for that purpose. 

I also indicated that I wanted to pay more attention to the “drama” that can occur in the comments make about what other users post.  I found that I could not really accomplish this goal.  I am simply turned off by judgmental comments and found myself shying away from any kind of controversy.  The possibility of being misunderstood is too high to make it worth the risk.  I did notice that that as a result of these misunderstandings, the people who do engage in drama, tend to have to respond multiple to try and make their point.  Often, they do not succeed in being heard despite multiple attempts.

2)Enjoying the Small Things - link to original entry

Over the course of this semester I have made a concerted effort to read beyond Kelle’s blog entry and examine the hundreds of comments she receives on each of her posts to try to understand why her blog is so successful.  Many of the comments are readers saying thank-you for the uplifting content of the blog, other people indicate that they can relate to the challenges she posts about, and lots of people offer well-wishes to Kelle and her family.  However, the majority of the comments have to do with the photos that Kelle includes in her posts.  In my opinion, people seem hooked to the blog because they feel like they know Kelle and her family.  Her writing style she is very candid and many of the entries feel raw and honest.  In addition, the entries are packed full of the most beautiful and revealing photos of her family.  You can’t help but feel like you were even there.  I have never met Kelle, or her family (and probably never will) but I feel like I know them and always am excited when I check Google Reader and see that there is a new post.  Kelle has been successful at infusing her blog with social presence by revealing quite a lot about her and her family.

3) Weddingbells - link to original entry

This journal entry turned out to be a very important one for me.  Without even knowing it, it was the start of my tech-stewarding project.

One thing I investigated on Weddingbells was how threads get responded to.  Some people post threads that get hundreds of views and responses, while others can barely get any at all.  There seem to have been two factors at play to explain this.  The first has to do with the popularity and visibility of the original poster.  If the poster is known and “popular” then usually there are many responses to what they post.  The second main factor is the title of the thread.  People will view the post if the title is clear and interesting.  If it the purpose of the thread is unclear less people tend to view it and as a result there are fewer responses.

Google Talk

Google Talk was #10 on my list of social media tools to explore for this project.  It made the list at the onset of this project because I was having a really hard time finding ten technologies to explore and I picked it off a list.  In the end I did not use this tool at all.  Despite not using Google Talk, and barely scratching the surface of LibraryThing and YouTube, I did manage to immerse myself in more than ten technologies by the end of this semester.

As a class we opted out of using FirstClass for class communication and chose to use GoogleWave instead.  This choice allowed me to explore both of those tools.  The class also used TypeWithMe to collaboratively compose thank-you letters to the two guest speakers who gave their time to our class.  And finally, the student-led seminars gave me brief exposure to SecondLife and several other virtual world technologies.  While some of these experiences were superficial, others have been quite rich.  It is safe to say that I have learned far more from being immersed in the world of social media that if we had spent class time being "taught" about them.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a tool I joined specifically for Social Computing; however, it is one that I will continue to use after this course is done.  LinkedIn is a networking tool for professional that allows users to connect with colleagues and classmates, connect with experts for advice as well as provide inside connections when looking for jobs.

Over the past three months I have connected with approximately twenty people; the majority of my connections have been classmates from the Educational Technology program.  I have not had the opportunity to really use LinkedIn to develop my career or reach out to experts; however, I did draw on one of my connections to provide some insight with regards to my internship.  I found a past Ed. Tech student who did her internship at the same place I was thinking of doing mine.  She was able to provide me with some context about her experience that helped me decided that the organization was a good fit for me.  Based on this experience, I can see the value that my LinkedIn network might have for me in the future.  I can see what other graduates of the program are doing to provide me with some ideas of what I can expect when I am finished the program.  In addition, I may be able to draw on some of their experiences when I am looking for a job myself.

LibraryThing

I joined LibraryThing in the spring of 2010 on the recommendation of my father.  We had both just read the same book and had differing ideas about one of the story lines.  He pointed me to LibraryThing to read what others had to say.  I found that exercise really interesting so I created my own profile.  I intended to use it to keep track of the books I have read and to explore what other people had to say about them.  Unfortunately, since I joined I have not had a lot of time for reading or for exploring LibraryThing.  I have been bogged down with coursework and my home-life responsibilities.  I have only had time to input and review a few of the books I have read recently.  I have also read a few reviews of the books on my reading list.

Based on the limited experience I have had with LibraryThing I am hoping to have more time for it in the future.  I think it could be a great tool for discussing books and for book recommendations.  I already belong to a face-to-face book club which I enjoy very much, but I think LibraryThing could be an interesting extension to what that book club offers me.  My real-life book club is operated through a community center so I do not have any say in the people who join or their taste in books.  I may be able to streamline my interactions on LibraryThing to be better suited to my own taste.  Time will tell.

YouTube

My experience with YouTube prior to this project was limited to watching videos sent to me via e-mail or ones that appeared in my News Feed on Facebook. While I vowed to investigate YouTube further, it just did not happen. I had every intention of exploring it more thoroughly; I set up an account and set aside some time at the beginning of the course to play around on YouTube. Then, I got wrapped up in course readings, preparing my seminar and other more domestic responsibilities and I never managed to log back on to YouTube. I still watch videos that people send me or that pop up on Facebook but I have not managed to expand my experience beyond that. I have not spent the time required to really learn how people use it and why.

In the limited way I have been exposed to YouTube, I have noticed that the majority of videos I watch are “funny” or “amazing” things that people send me. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, I seem to watch a lot of home videos of people’s kids. Right now, that is just the nature of what I am interested in. The people I spend most of my social time with are other mothers with kids the same age as mine and I naturally have an interest in what their children are doing. I find myself comparing my son to these other children developmentally and also catching a glimpse into what my future holds as he learns what these other babies are doing. Personally, YouTube as served as a means for entertainment or as a way of tracking my son’s development. Now I know thatYouTube has far more affordances than providing me with entertainment and keeping track of what “tricks” my son should be learning, however, with my limited personal experience this is what YouTube has been for me.

Twitter

I must admit that I set up an account on Twitter rather reluctantly.  Despite having had no experience with it, I just did not see the point.  I already felt inundated by people’s status updates on Facebook, I was just not into delving into a technology that only seemed to do that.  In the first few days I had hardly anyone to follow and no real purpose for following them, I was not seeing the point at all.  I also could find nothing to tweet about.  I sat in front on my computer screen and drew blanks; there was nothing I felt I wanted to share with the world.  I could not think of anything to write that I thought other people would care about. 

Over time, as I added people to my list to follow I did find that there were some tweets that did interest me.  So far, in my limited experience with Twitter the only time that I really felt that it was really useful was during the World Ringette Championships (WRC).  I played ringette all my life, in fact my Aunt and Uncle met coaching my team when I was 12 years old.  They are both still involved in coaching; my Aunt was an Assistant Coach with Team Canada at this year’s WRC in Finland.  As a result of both my personal interest in the sport and a personal connection to the team, I wanted to follow their progress in Finland.  During the team’s stay in Finland, there was a team attaché who updated the team’s experience in Finland.  I found that I was constantly checking to see if there were new updates.  During game times, I was attached to my iPhone to check for score updates.   I really enjoyed knowing what was going on in real-time.  I was also finally prompted to post a few tweets – I wanted to show my support for Team Canada.

Now that the WRC is done, I have deleted the attaché from my account as her tweets now focus on more local ringette news that just does not interest me as much.  I have no personal connection to what she is tweeting about and as a result I found myself feeling irritated that her tweets were taking up space in my timeline.  I have also not posted any tweets since the WRC finished; I again have nothing to say.

I guess the lesson I have learned is that every technology has its place and its use.  For the most part Twitter does not fulfill a need in my life and therefore I am not attached to it.  However, the times that the need is there, as it was during the WRC, it can be a beneficial tool.

Skype

I finally got my act together and bought a webcam so I could fully immerse myself in Skype.  I had been meaning to do this for the last couple of years but never got around to it.  The requirements for this project and the birth of my son finally pushed me to stop procrastinating and move into the new millenium.  I am pleased to say that it was a great decision.

My in-laws live 8 hours away and a audio only telephone conversation does not quite give them enough of a taste of their grandson.  Now, Saturday mornings my husband, my son and I assemble in the basement in front of the video camera and spend some time with my in-laws.  They get to see their grandson and all his new "tricks" and he gets to see them too.  I hope this helps him remember them when he sees them in person next.  Sometime there is a bit of a lag with the visual that accompanies the audio but overall it doesn't bother me.  Despite this, a video call does feel far more personal than a telephone conversation.  It feels like we have "visited" with them far more than any phone call ever has.

This week I was unexpectedly unable to attend class due to the lack of a babysitter, so I attended class via Skype.  A second student in my class did the same, she describes her experience here.  I was quite skeptical about how it would go given that I would be juggling the care of an active 8 month old at the same time. 

First of all, the baby behaved himself pretty well so I was actually able to listen and participate in most of the class.  I was pleasantly surprised on that front.  Though I did have to communicate via chat, there was no way I could unmute my microphone with the racket my son was producing in the background.  On my end, this was fine, I just had to be patient and wait for someone on the other end to read it and communicate it to the class.  I wonder how it felt on the other end?

Initially, the call was done via a conference call since there were two of us needing to attend the class remotely.  This was problematic because it only provided for audio and given the nature of the class a visual of what was going on in class was quite important.  In order to solve this problem, a second laptop had to be used.  Thank you to my classmate who gave up their laptop in order for us to be more "present" in class.  The class was much easier to follow once a visual was provided.  Of course, this also meant that someone had to move the laptop around so it was focused on the right spot.  Again, thanks to whoever was keeping me in touch with the class.

At one point in the class, I was assigned to a group for a brainstorming session.  While I was able to contribute it was not nearly as natural as it would have been if I was participating face-to-face.  While my ideas were heard, and they did share the work they were doing on the iPad with me, none of this happened in real time.  I had to be very patient.

Unfortunately, I missed some of the wrap-up of the brainstorming session as I had to get supper started for my son.  As soon as my husband got home, I was able to jump back into the class.  I loved that I was able to do that without interrupting the class.  That freedom really helped on my end.  I only missed 15 minutes of the class.  And while, I would rather not have missed it at all, missing 15 minutes was better than missing the whole thing.

One complaint I had was that it was difficult to see what was projected on the SMART board.  This made following some parts of the class difficult, this was one point where I really wished I was present.  The other time that I had difficulty following was when there were multiple people speaking at the same time in class.  I got confused and could not identify who was speaking or who I should focus on, especially if my screen was not showing anyone.

Overall, my experience with Skype has been very successful.  I feel that it has improved communication with my in-laws.  I am grateful that my son will "know" his grandparents as a result of our Saturday morning meetings.  Furthermore, it allowed me to participate in most of yesterday's class when otherwise I would have missed it completely.  While the experience was not perfect, I learned a lot in class that I would have missed out on had it not been for Skype.  My classmate rated her experience as a B+, and I think I have to agree with that rating.

Weddingbells

A friend of mine pointed me towards this discussion forum when I first got engaged.  Initially I visited the site for wedding planning ideas.  At first I just lurked, in fact I did not even register as a user.  For awhile this was enough, I looked at people’s ideas for invitations, centerpieces and dresses but never felt the need to comment or to post. 

Then I started following the etiquette drama that undoubtedly comes with planning a wedding.  I was looking at how others dealt with guest list issues and seating plan obstacles.  Finally, when I was encountering some issues of my own, I registered and began posting and asking for feedback.  I was still a rare poster but I could not back away.  It was clear that I was addicted and there was nothing I could do about it.  I figured that once my wedding was over I would be able to leave the forum gracefully.  However, this was the farthest thing from the truth. 

Not only is there a wedding planning section to this forum but there is an additional section called Babybells that has proven to be far more addicting for me than the wedding component.  When I got pregnant with my son I started actively participating in a thread with other mothers due at the same time as me.  It was a place to discuss and overanalyze what was happening to us with a group of people who were going through the same thing and who really seemed to care.  I could talk or read about things with the ladies on this forum that I had no one else in real life to speak to.  The group has stayed active even after the birth of our babies.  I enjoy participating and seeing how others are handling the trials and tribulations of motherhood.  This is particularly important to me because I am the first in my group of friends to have a baby so there were not a lot of people in my real life that I could relate to at the beginning.  I have gone from a lurker, to an occasional poster to a more regular poster as a result of my participation in this thread. 

Babybells takes up far too much of my time but I just can’t seem to back away.  The question is why?  I suppose the answer is that it fills a need in my life and I get the support and reassurance I am looking for. Seeing that others are going through the same thing as me helps me work through the tough times.  I must admit that now that I have friends with babies and have met mothers with children the same age as my son my need for the forum is much less.  I spend far less time on it then I used to.

Now that I am frequenting the site as part of my social media experience, my approach has changed.  I find myself really thinking about what posts I choose to read and why.  I also am looking to see why some posts get a huge amount of views and responses and why some hardly get any.  I am also exploring the patterns of responses from certain users.  More on these issues as I get a better picture of what is going on.

Blog - Miss.Adventure@Home

I have been following this blog for awhile.  In this case, my interest in it is personal - the author of this blog is the sister of one of my closest friends.  I also follow it because I enjoy the content.  It is a food blog that deals with food that I like and restaurants that I may actually go to.  The author lives in Hamilton so a lot of the featured restaurants are out of reach for me.  However, she does come from Montreal originally so when she is home for a visit some Montreal establishments get written-up.  In some cases, I have actually been to the restaurant with her.  Unlike the other blog I follow, this one only has 27 followers and only generates a couple of comments per post.  I am also drawn to it because of the pictures that go along with the write-ups, it brings the food alive for me.

The interesting this with this blog is how I find myself feeling about how often there is a new post.  I find that the author goes in spurts.  Sometimes there is no new post for quite awhile and other times there are many in the span of a few days.  I find myself irritated if it goes to long with no new post, I guess I am impatient.  On the other hand, if there are a bunch of new posts in a short period of time I am equally irritated but for other reasons.  When there are too many posts in a short period of time I feel overwhelmed and don't take the time to read through them carefully.  There is no winning with me!

Time

When this project was first described ten social media sites did not seem like that much.  However, when I sat down to get started I realized that while I could think four or five right off the bat that I already participate in, getting to ten was going to be tough.  It took me awhile to choose what I wanted to join as there are just so many different options.

I was also not prepared for just how much time all of this takes.  Simply checking in regularly is overwhelming and time consuming, and that is the sites I am already was familiar with.  Starting up new accounts in five other places is taking me quite awhile.  Add to that taking the time to start figuring out how each different platform works and I am spending a lot of time in front of my computer.  I can understand why people who are not motivated to get on board with social media sites would give up - it can be overwhelming to learn how to take advantage of what is offered.  It will be interesting to see if all this time invested will be worth it in the end.  I am sure some of my choices will have more to offer than others.

Blog - Enjoying the Small Things

I discovered this blog via an on-line forum I was browsing through.  It is the story of a Florida mother of 2 young daughters.  Kelle started her blog when her oldest daughter was born as a way to celebrate life.  Her blog gained in popularity after the birth of her second daughter, Nella.  This was the first post I read and I was hooked.  The story itself struck a cord as I read it just days after my own son was born.  I wondered how I would have reacted if I had been surprised with a baby with Down's Syndrome at birth.  I have been astonished at how honest Kelle is on her blog and how much of her life she shares through what she writes and in the pictures she posts.

As a result I have been compelled to read her postings religiously.  And I am not alone, Kelle has over 7000 followers and it is not uncommon for there to be hundreds of comments on her posts.   Until now I have only read the postings and have not really looked at the comments.  However, starting this portfolio I am now curious as to why so many people follow her blog and why so many people post comments.  I am hoping to get a glimpse into the answer to these questions through the comments that are posted.

Facebook

I have had a Facebook account for a few years now despite resisting for quite some time.  I am a high school teacher and was afraid to put too much of myself out there for my students to see.  I also did not want to see what they are posting - a kind of ignorance is bliss scenario.  However, with more and more friends and family moving away from Montreal, the allure of Facebook as a way of keeping in touch convinced me to bite the bullet and sign up.

I keep my privacy settings high.  I don't "friend" any students or past students.  I only post pictures I would have on display in my home or in my office and try to get people to remove any pictures of me I wouldn't want displayed in my home or office as well.  With these "policies" I am quite pleased with my experience on Facebook.  I have successfully kept up with some friends that I am sure would have drifted out of my life had it not been for them popping up in my News Feed and have kept them up to date with important milestones in my life.  My activity on Facebook consists of looking at pictures of my closest friends and playing Scrabble with a few of my contacts as well.  I think I have updated my status only a handful of times but I do post pictures semi-regularly.  I am open to people seeing what is going on in my life, but I don't feel that it is necessary for every aspect of my day-to-day life to be documented on Facebook.  The people who really care what I am doing on a daily basis know that stuff because I speak to them regularly.

I realize that other people have other uses for Facebook and different views about how much of their lives to share, but I am at a loss for why people post some things.  For example, I was reading through my News Feed the other day and was noticing how many people publicize when they are going to be away from their homes.  You really have to be trusting to inform everyone that your house is going to be empty.  Maybe I am paranoid, but that is an invitation to be robbed if you ask me.  I am also amazed at how detailed some people's status updates are.  There is no detailed spared in some people's posts.  And finally, I am also amazed at the comments some people write in response to people's pictures and status updates.  Some people are really not afraid to give their opinion on what others are doing with their lives.  This week I plan to pay particular attention to this.  I normally avoid all Facebook drama and stop reading when a comment stream gets heated, however I will follow  this week to see what develops (assuming anything dramatic occurs).  I will not get involved but I will observe what happens.

Introduction - Social Media Project

I am currently taking my last class for my MA in Educational Technology before I tackle my internship.  The class is called Social Media and our first assignment is to subscribe and participate in 10 social media sites etc and reflect and analyze on our experience.  Here is a list of what  I will be exploring over the course of the semester.  Some of them I was already following and using while others are brand new to me.

1.  Facebook
2. Blog - Enjoying the Small Things
3.  Blog - Miss Adventure at Home
4.  Weddingbells Forum
5.  YouTube
6.  Librarything
7.  Skype
8.  Linkedin
9.  Twitter
10.  Google Talk

Over the next few posts I will be describing my initial thoughts on each of these 10 choices and my experience with them at the onset of this course.