Yes You Can!Using Social Networks in Education

Region One Technology Conference May 11, 2010

Agenda

Introductions Brief history of social networking Social networks in education Twitter Facebook

Who is the target audience for this workshop?

This is an overview of social networks. We will focus on accounts for the organization.

Most benefit for those starting out with organizational accounts

We welcome feedback from “power users.”

Definitions

“A social network is a social structure made of individuals (or organizations) called "nodes," which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest,…etc.”

Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network. Downloaded May 5, 2010, 1:35 PM

“A social network service focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services.”

Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_service , May 5, 2010, 1:48 PM.

Brief History of Social Networking Services1978-1993

UsenetARPAN

ET

BBSListser

v

1994 Theglobe.com Geocities

1995 Tripod Classmates.com

WikiWikiWeb

2002 Friendster

2005 MySpace Ning

2006 Facebook Twitter

Social Media. Why?

YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/v/lFZ0z5Fm-Ng

Pros

Cons

Activ

ity

Did you know?

From Pew Internet and American Life Study, September 2009

Why would I want to use social networks?

Keep intended audience informed about upcoming events and latest news

Social network features propagate more posts (spread the word)

More instant than email Mobile support expands your

audience (Is your school web page mobile ready?)

Before you begin……

Things to consider (3 Ps)

Study district POLICY Get PERMISSION to represent the

district Determine PURPOSE

What do I do first?

Customize your accounts Select a good “name” for your accounts

beginning with a organizational email account

Create account(s) Select a theme and/or image to brand

your site▪ Upload profile image

Change your privacy settings

Good practices for organizational accounts

Create posting guidelines Type of information to post Who will post? Plan for different staff

over time. Frequency of posts?

Publicize Supply audience URL; i.e.:

twitter.com/esc1library on web pages and newsletters

Consider that all information will be public – post carefully

The APPS

What is ?

Twitter is a messaging platform located at twitter.com. -referred to as “Micro-blogging”

Users “Tweet” messages 140 characters or less

Other interested users “Follow” tweeters.

Essential Twitter Terms

Username: Your Twitter identity Example: http://twitter.com/esc1library

Tweet: a single Twitter status update (max. 140 characters)

Follower: User who receives your tweets

List: Collection of Twitter accounts that you follow as a whole

Trend: a commonly tweeted keyword

Essential Twitter Terms

Tweet: post a status update Follow: add Twitter user whose

updates you will receive Retweet: post a tweet someone else

posted for your followers to see Direct message: send a private

tweet to a specific user

Essential Twitter Terms

Hashtags are specially marked keywords inside of tweets that indicate the topic of the tweet– Similar to tags or subject headings

Use # to indicate a hashtag, – #technology, #library or #science

Example from twitter.com/britannica Bono is 50 years old today.

http://bit.ly/d82zGN #rock #pop #birthdays #music

Twitter conventions

Use @ when a user is mentioned. Example: @esc1library posted the

summer staff development schedule Save space by shortening URLs

Two popular hortening tools▪ http://bit.ly.com▪ http://tinyurl.com

Twitter tools

Examples: Tweetdeck Hootsuite Twitpic

Facebook

A social networking website▪ Anyone over age 13 with a valid email

address can join. Users can▪ add friends▪ send messages to friends▪ Update personal profiles to notify friends

about themselves▪ Join networks by organization, workplace,

school, college, etc.▪ Upload pictures, videos, etc.

Contact

Maria Elena Ovalle(956) 984-6055movalle@esc1.net