New new media

There are many different social media tools available, and the number seems to be growing at a rapid pace. I’m familiar with a few of them, but am always discovering more. I mainly use social media sites solely for socializing (say that five times fast). I’ve used them to connect with friends and make new friends through special interest groups. So, I’m active on Facebook and a member of several groups there. I also have a very active Pinterest account. I actually enjoy Pinterest more because I’m a very visual person, and I love finding ideas for things by searching images. The images have led me to many interesting articles and blogs that I now read regularly, but the original draw was the images. I have also discovered that I learn more about my friends and what’s going on in their lives by the images they “pin” than by what they share on Facebook. I also like that I’m able to organize my ideas into categories so that I can easily find them, and that level of organization really appeals to my nerdy side.

Along the same lines, I like photosharing sites because I can see my friends and their families. I have an Instagram account and have used the Shutterfly photsharing site (https://thefannons.shutterfly.com/138). What I like about Shutterfly is that you don’t actually have to an account to view the site. When we took my little to the beach for the first time a few years ago, I was able to set up a personal website and share it with her grandparents who couldn’t be with us. They were able to enjoy the trip with us. Although we now can share photo albums through our clouds, these sites are still useful for those who don’t share idevices.

In expanding my social network repertoire I did come across some new sites that were interesting. One of them, StumbleUpon, will probably become a new favorite. It is a social bookmarking site similar to Pinterest in that you create pages that interest you. It is less image focused and more content focused. What I like is that you create interests and the site finds articles and sites that meet your interests. I like that it takes some of the time away from just doing a general web search and somewhat streamlines the process. http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/tracepfan

I did look at a “Mashup”, in particular Zeemaps. This was a very interesting site and I can see it being very useful in different fields. I created a map of a vacation trip just to play around with the site (https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=1054482#), nothing exciting really. There would need to be some research done in order to input all of the data, however, the possibilities are endless. In a classroom setting the site could be used to map locations, people, events…any number of things that are being studied. It could be used by a company to map locations or the availability of resources for a particular assignment, meeting, etc. There really is no limit to how the site could be utilized. It was very interesting, and I would definitely like to become more familiar with it.

I have participated in several webinars through anymeeting.com and actually registered for one that is happening this upcoming Tuesday evening at Go To Webinar. What I haven’t quite figured out yet is how to find a particular webinar after it’s happened, like if I wanted to reference it again or watch it again. Podcasts are along the same lines but I don’t enjoy them because it’s similar to listening to a book on tape, which I really don’t like (that whole visual learner thing again). I can definitely see webinars and podcasts as useful tools to broaden communication among groups. They both give the ability to share presentations, speeches, etc. with a much broader range of people beyond the traditional conference room.

Although, there are tons of media and networking sites available, I believe these are the most effective for reaching large numbers of people. The appeal to a variety of learners and already have a large number of followers. I’m just beginning to dabble in all of these new media sites, but I’m anxious to find out more about them, to understand how they work, and to figure out how to use them both personally and professionally.