Archived entries for People
How To Explain Twitter to non-Twitter-ers
Do you get weird looks when you say you’re on twitter? Do your friends mock you sometimes? I’ve had both of those, and more, happen to me recently. People always ask, what is it? what do you do? It’s hard to make it stick to most, but if you relate it to a bar/networking event, they get the picture.
At a bar there is a room, or eco-system (twitter) at that location. You have the opportunity to talk to anywhere in the room. But sometimes that can be daunting. So what most people do is find a common ground. You hear people next to you talking about a recent game or event and you chime in. BAM, a conversation starts.
Another example
Your friend invites you to a networking event but you don’t want to go because you won’t know anyone. But you go anyway in an attempt to “break out of your comfort zone.” While there in the eco-system, you meet tons of people through your friend. You leave the event feeling refreshed because you’ve met new people, in new industries, and overall new friends.
Twitter isn’t some weird status update, it isn’t telling people what you’re doing. It brings people together. It helps you find new friends, new networks and new opportunities.
When you have to tell a friend what twitter is. Just tell them its one big conversation and any one can join.
Those mentioned in the picture are people I’ve met through Twitter. They are all great friends today. Thanks everyone!
Photo Creds- Its from Flikr. Bear with me I’m trying to find the link since I grabbed the picture so long ago. Holler to @nishachittal for being in the pic. It’s from Social Media Club DC
3 Ways Teachers Can Better Educate Our Youth
Last night I was reading this article. It discusses the ban of laptops in college classrooms across the nation and how computers are distracting students, and ultimately, ruining the teaching process. I politely disagree. We currently are flooded with information from various social sites. Why aren’t educators taking advantage of this?
Meet Them In The Middle
Instead of saying no to electronics, information and technology, educators should learn from them and embed them into their teachings. Everyone uses Facebook, Twitter and a new and upcoming service, FormSpring, so why not implement them in the way we interact and educate students. Here are some ideas.
These articles, one and two, mention the usage of Facebook. From 2008 to 2009, Facebook usage increased 700% from 1.7 billion minutes to 13.9 billion minutes. Again folks, that is BILLIONS. Why aren’t teachers using this medium?
Example
Mr.Doe teaches English II, for 10th graders. His class is comprised of a lot of reading and writing. Mr. Doe creates a Facebook group for his 1st period English II class. In that group updates the page with reading and writing assignments.
Since students already use this medium why not utilize the platform for education? I mean, they are already on it for 13.9 billion minutes. Why not?
Since the Chirp conference, Twitter released their company stats. The biggest one, there are 105 million registered users. Why don’t teachers use this medium to talk with their students, or engage in conversation with them
Example
Mrs. Smith teaches Intro to Public Policy at a University in Awesome. She has a class of 100 students and it’s hard to curate conversation in class. As an assignment, she puts together a twitter chat and assigns a hashtag. She narrates this chat with questions, ones would be too difficult to cover in class, to engage with students, to provide information and to see what they know.
FormSpring.me
This one is a stretch, I’ll admit, but the possibilities are great. On Formspring.me Any one can ask a question, if you a registered user, then your name appears in your question, if not it’s private. The user has the right to answer or delete any question.
Example
Mr. Kersh has assigned a paper due in three weeks to his class. The only problem is the class meets once a week. Instead of students flooding his inbox he creates a FormSpring. He gives out his public URL and tells students to direct any question to the given assignment to this medium. He can then answer the questions, post it to all, and decide which questions to answer and not answer (since 30 students ask the same question).
We are educating our future, so why not keep their attention though current mediums instead of boring them to death with PowerPoint and lectures.
Flikr Creds: Here
The 3 C’s. What Kind of Person Are You?
Since leaving SXSW I’ve realized that there might only be three types of people in the world: a creative, a creator and a combination. Think of new media and social media start ups none were founded by one person. Companies have a tandem or team of people, a mixture of creative’s and creators, helping to reach a goal of fruition.
Creative
These are the folks that continuously pour out ideas. Their brains are incubators for what will be the next big thing. Whether onto napkins in restaurants, in a word document or to telling their friends over coffee, they always have ideas. Some stupid and some genius.
These are the folks that come up with the concepts or purposes for tangible and intangible things. Not to say these kinds of people can’t develop or build their own idea, but this is where root ideas and concepts are born.
Creator
Here are the people that take your ideas concept to reality. It could be a web dev
eloper if you have an idea for an online community. Maybe even someone who understands how to start a small business. It could even be someone who is great with strategy and planning. These are the people who can take your idea and put it in the right path to create a real product or community. These creators also help grow an idea into something bigger and better or smaller and more niche.
Combination
This could easily be a blessing and a curse. They can dream up crazy ideas and bring them to being. They can also help innovate or build on a current product or existing idea. One can make amazing things happen but could easily be overwhelmed with too many on going projects.They have the creative spark and organized mind to make great things happens.
There is nothing wrong with being one of these. As well as transcending from one person to another while mixing attributes, which would make you a combination.
A group of people with a mixture of types is probably best. It helps to bounce ideas off of one another to create something that is #awesomesauce.
What kind are you? What kind do you want to be?
Photo Creds: Pic 1- Google Images Pic 2- Flikr