Why the Facebook Group My Students Created for Themselves is Better than the Discussion Forum I Created for Them. « Douchy’s Weblog. Since 2004 I’ve created a website of some kind for each class, with a discussion board – a place where students can ask questions or make comments on our class any time of day or night and get a response.
I think it’s an essential component of any modern class. This semester something new happened, though. My students created a Facebook group for my class (and then invited me to join it!). Slowly I’ve watched and noticed more and more, that students are posting on that Facebook group instead of the discussion forum I’d created for them! While at first, the control-freak in me wanted to send them all back to the “official class discussion forum”, The advantages of the Facebook group have become increasingly compelling and I’m wondering whether it’s time to let the forum I created go the way of cassette tapes and typewriters. Some other advantages of the Facebook group over the discussion board I created are: Delib - a digital democracy company / gov2.0 / citizen voice.
"90-9-1" Rule for Participation Inequality: Lurkers vs. Contributors in Internet Communities (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox) Gov 2.0 views from Gartner's Government day. I attended Gartner's Government Day on Monday for their ITXPO Symposium (I was on a panel), and it was very interesting to hear the views expressed about social media.
Below are some of the quotes I recorded from Gartner analysts and senior IT leaders. They are not all verbatim and have been reordered to flow more logically. Social media is not about technology, it's about collaboration - the only risk is in ignoring it. There are 20 exabytes of social media information available online today - it is real, it is not a fad.
It doesn't matter whether you are using social media - you cannot ignore it because your customers use it. However, the comments were not from any 'Social media in Government' workshop. They were from a 'Social media in the Banking industry' workshop that I attended after my panel to see how the financial industry was addressing Web 2.0 opportunities. I can see some real shake-up coming to the industry based on several other statements by Gartner analysts: Enterprises Must Create Separate Marketing Strategies for Generation Virtual (gartner) STAMFORD, Conn., July 14, 2008 View All Press Releases Analysts Examine Future Trends and Innovations for CRM at Gartner CRM Summit in Washington D.C., September 8-10, 2008 As community marketing continues to evolve, organizations can target “Generation Virtual” by providing socialization tools to customers and prospects depending on their purpose and the level of customer engagement, according to Gartner, Inc.
Unlike previous generations, Generation Virtual (also known as Generation V) is not defined by age — or gender, social demographic or geography — but is based on demonstrated achievement, accomplishments and an increasing preference for the use of digital media channels to discover information, build knowledge and share insights. Generation V is the recognition that general behavior, attitudes and interests are starting to blend together in an online environment. Gartner recommends marketing organizations should: Contacts About Gartner Gartner, Inc.