Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Week 7 - Social networking and facilitation

Well I have had a week of extreme online activity. Joining twitter, linkedIn, following more blogs, starting another blog etc. My initial thought was how will I keep up with all this and how will I manage my time, then decided I must give them all a go before deciding which ones to use. I also don't feel like I can make a judgement call on any of them until I have used them for a while. Playing with them is definately the best way to learn. Twitter surprised me - Sarah had requested some midwifery exam questions and I was able to supply her with a whole exam I just happened to have. These sort of requests just filter out through those networks we spend so much time building and it was nice to be able to give back - reciprosity. So next time someone complains about the time it takes to manage these social network tools, just mention the word reciprosity. My initial and very short interpretation so far: Twitter (instant, requests) Facebook (social chatter, fun) LinkedIN (Professional networking) blogging (reflective thought and active discussion)

5 comments:

  1. When you talk to those of us who did this course 2 or 3 years ago you'll find that we were all feeling the same as you are now. But as time goes by you'll trim everything down to a core of tools that meet your needs: http://sarah-stewart.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-ple-2010.html

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  2. Jillian, I like the 'reciprocal' concept and as always I believe preparation, planning, trial and error will help us learn.

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  3. Good Jillain point you make for the doubters about using social networks. It can be used to solve problems quickly in a ways that give a big return on investment.

    Given the time it takes to build and maintain social media networks, there needes to be a pay-off. I'll be using yoru example of exam papers as an example.

    So far my return on investment has come much faster than I expected with great ideas comminy my way. I've also had pay offs from better knowledge of partners interests and abilities that has influenced projects I've developed.

    I find that I can you Facebook for work, particularly with partners/stakeholder who use Facebook rather than Twitter.

    Linkedin is still to impress me but I've mainly been focusing on other social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Ning.

    Has anyone out there cracked how to use Linkedin?

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  4. I think LinkedIn is very big in the USA but hasn't taken off in the same way in Australasia. But I have heard of people being approached about work. I know there are some very good groups there that might be worth investigating eg I have just joined a group about technology and nurse education.

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  5. Good to see what you are doing Jillian. I have you in my google reader! I love that thing - I can scroll down and see what people are saying and hop in and make a commment, like now. I'm interested in your midwifery questions - I would love you to share your midwifery multiple choice bank with me too! If you fancy doing so, I would be forever grateful. My work email address is Carolyn.Hastie@newcastle.edu.au
    Wouldn't it be good to have a sharing database for midwifery educators? Hmmm that's a good idea.

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