Twitter as a professional development tool. Love it or hate it? This week I attended a conference about professional development in Scotland. The participants were Community Learning and Development workers (CLD). I was there to show how the various ways in which a SMARTboard could be used for teaching, training and groupwork. There was also a focus on the use of ‘social media’ as a professional development tool and a way of engaging with individuals. What struck me most forcefully is the way in which ‘social media’ (mostly defined as Facebook and Twitter), polarised the audience, with strong emotions on both sides.
During the debate, I chatted to a participant who said: ‘you don’t do that twitter, do you?’ But I can totally understand hostility to twitter, especially when its use is brought up within the context of a professional community with a vague but palpable notion lurking in the background that people should really get an account and start tweeting. Twitter can be a fantastic professional development tool though. Like this: Like Loading... Why Teachers Need Social Media Training, Not Just Rules. 6.2.12 | Under a new set of social media guidelines (pdf) issued by the New York City Department of Education, teachers are required to obtain a supervisor’s approval before creating a “professional social media presence,” which is broadly defined as “any form of online publication or presence that allows interactive communication, including, but not limited to, social networks, blogs, internet websites, internet forums, and wikis.”
The guidelines also call for notifying parents about the social media activities their children will be invited to participate in, and they prohibit online teacher/student communication, including “‘friending,’ ‘following,’ ‘commenting,’ and posting messages” on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Google+, and YouTube. Teachers will likely have to stop playing interactive games such as Draw Something with their students.
“[Conversations] occur at church, in neighborhoods, scouting groups, volunteers,” he said. “Other offline places. Social Media Companies: A Cheat Sheet [INFOGRAPHIC] So you're new to this whole social media thing. Maybe you're savvy enough to know your Facebook from your Twitter, your Pinterest from your Spotify. But what about Tagged? Xing? Futubra? Where do they fit into the social media ecosystem? Just learning their names is enough to make your head spin, let alone how large they are or what kind of numbers they're pulling down. Never fear. This comprehensive infographic whipped up by social media strategist firm Hasai, below, serves both as a cheat sheet for the newbies and a scorecard for old hands; there's sure to be a stat that surprises even the most jaded social guru.
Cartoon: Why Social Media Matters for Your Customers. It is time for another look at enterprise IT from our friends Chief and Chuck. If your management still thinks Facebook and Twitter are fads, then perhaps this cartoon will hit home. After all, if we could only just not be bothered all the time from our customers when they have problems, right? One way is to just ignore them, and the message from this cartoon is clear: You do so at your own peril. We've written many articles on the need for using social media to engage your customers, including the analysis of Oracle's acquisition of Vitrue earlier this week and this infographic we linked to last year that shows customers want to use social media for support. Maybe it is time you re-examined your own policies to make these tools both easier and more popular in your enterprise.
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