My Use of Social Media

In 5 Ways To Use Social Media as Time Saver at Work from Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator, Lisa Nielsen shares,

“While for some social media has the unfortunate reputation of being a time waster, it can be used as a tool to increase efficiency and support learning for self and others.”

I hear a lot of people resistant to social media saying all the negative things about it. I bet the people with horse and buggies said the same thing when the automobile came out.  People with kerosene lanterns probably said the same things about electricity. But eventually, people get used to it and it becomes the norm.

Social media is like anything else in our lives and if abused, it can have a negative effect on anyone’s life. But if used in a way that it helps you, it can have a positive effect on anyone’s life.

Here are the social media I use daily and how it helps me:

Google Calendar – I can put events on the calendar and since I share it with my husband, he can access the calendar on his laptop. I also can access it on my phone and my iPad if I need to add things to it while I’m not at home.

My Blog – I write on my blog every Monday through Friday and have been doing this for almost eight years now. I hope that some of the things I share will help new and struggling teachers.

Facebook – I have grouped people into several groups and can click on specific groups for messages that I want to share or read. I can share links to educational posts with other educators and knitting links with fellow fiber crafters. This helps me stay focused on one topic rather than reading all of them in a linear fashion and having to switch my brain into different gears constantly.

Feedly – This is where I group all the blogs that I read. I then put them in different groups and like Facebook, I can read all of one topic at a time rather than having to switch gears for each different post. This also helps me know when a blog has been updated so I don’t miss anything.

Ravelry – This is a social media group for fiber crafters. I found a group that mixes special educators and knitting and crochet so both hobbies are combined!

Twitter and Plurk – I can post one message and it goes to both places. I like to share links this way and I also find many useful resources this way.

What social media do you use and how does it help you? Please share.

Image: 'Social Media ROI' 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32119772@N03/3598356119
Found on flickrcc.net