Facebook Explained

Sachi and Lee LeFever, from Common Craft, have released a new Explainer video about Social Networking. It is a welcome sequel to Common Craft's previous Social Networking in Plain English from 2008.

This new video (embedded below) explains social networking from the perspective of a user who discovers Facebook and finds a new level of enjoyment from friends with common interests.

The video teaches:

• The ideas and features of social networking websites 
• Basic privacy settings 
• The role of status updates 
• How to build a network 
• How comments and likes enable communication

More Facebook resources for educators:

• Teaching Digital Kids
• Facebook for Educators Guide (PDF)
• PEW Report: Social Networking Sites and Our Lives (full report here) 

Disclosure Statement: Common Craft has provided me with a free membership to their premium service with the understanding of no obligation on my part. If and when I reference Common Craft in my posts, it is my personal choice with no benefit to me other than providing a valuable service to my readers within the context of my posts.

Top 10 Reasons Why I'm Not Following You on Twitter and 10 Why I Am

Image Flickr User: carrotcreative

For me and many educators, Twitter has often been like an online faculty lounge where I get control over who stays in the room and who has to leave. That may sound cruel but that's the way social networks work. You choose who to follow for many reasons. Everyone has their own criteria, and I thought I'd share a few of my own here.



Top 10 Reasons Why I'm Probably NOT Following You on Twitter:

1. You're an egg or default avatar with no profile. Add a photo and a bio. Tell me something meaningful about yourself. 
2. You are following 300 people and have 2 followers. This tells me you are a Spammer.
3. You've Tweeted me a link and nothing else. See #2.
4. I get more than a few Follow Requests every day. I don't have time to click through on every one of them. Engage me or @ me or say "Hi," and I'll notice you. I know I need to do a better job of following more people. I'm working on this.
5. You follow for awhile, build up your numbers, build relationships, then unfollow in large numbers thus playing games with your Klout or "follower numbers" for appearance-sake. No thanks.
6. You are argumentative for the sake of being argumentative.
7. For the sake of building a conversation, you appear to go out of your way to be hurtful to people; resorting to immature behavior such as lying, rallying the troops with "Straw Man Arguments," pulling the "wounded duck" routine, name calling and/or see #6.
8. You meanly mock others. (Not to be confused with gentle teasing.)
9. I know you outside of Twitter, you never Tweet, but you read my Tweets. I know this because you refer to them when I see you. (Same goes for Facebook.) Can you spell, C-R-E-E-P-Y?
10. You've asked me for help, I've helped. I've asked you for help, you've ignored me. Seriously?
    

Top 10 Reasons Why I Probably AM Following You on Twitter:

1. You make me laugh.
2. You make me think.
3. You've changed my mind.
4. You've sent me places online, pointed me to articles and blogposts and provided resources I might not have found as quickly on my own.
5. You've cheered me on when I'm excited about something.
6. You've helped me promote something that's important to me (a blogpost, a contest, a cause, a friend).
7. You've told me when you think I'm wrong.
8. You've argued with me, respectfully.
9. You've taught me something.
10. You make me feel like I'm a part of something global.
    

What are your top reasons for following or not?




Image credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrotcreative/ / CC BY 2.0

Some Things I Know About Blogging

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wfryer/503600331/

Back in October, Richard Byrne wrote "What I Learned From 5,000 Blog Posts." I missed this post until today when it came across my Twitter feed from Paula Naugle (Twitter @plnaugle). Although I've not blogged nearly as much as Richard and my blog couldn't possibly hold a candle to the amount of monthly traffic his receives, I'm happy and proud of the little niche I've created for my voice over here. 

I wanted to add a couple of my own "lessons learned," but when I tried to comment I saw that the comments for the post were closed (most likely SPAM protection), so I decided to bring my thoughts over here. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mignon_Fogarty

Richard suggests not to obsess too much about grammar: He said, "I do worry about spelling, grammar, and punctuation. However, I don't fret over the minutia of the grammar rules. If I fret over every detail I'd spend more time consulting Strunk & White's The Elements of Style than I would publishing blog posts." Like Richard, I also pay careful attention to spelling and grammar. This does not mean that my writing is perfect. I make mistakes, but I make every effort to check my work and do a search when in doubt and sometimes ask others to proofread for content as well as mechanics. When you write, whether it be an email, bulletin, article, newsletter or a blogpost, it is the impression with which you leave the reader about your message. I think it should be your best. Know the difference between lose and loose, your and you're and their, they're and there. My favorite site for a quick grammar check is Grammar Girl. (FYI, she will answer your question on Twitter, too.)

And, because we don't always catch mistakes the first time ...

Don't be afraid to go back and edit; even after you've published. The nice thing about blogging is having the ability to go back and edit your work. If you misspelled something or your grammar was poor, just go in and edit. If you substantially change the context of your post, you should indicate so in your post by adding a small "Update" blurb, or strike through the previous text and add the new text. 

About growing your audience, Richard suggests publishing often and keeping it short. I agree with both of these suggestions, although I've not always been able to stick to them (especially the publishing often part). I have to be inspired in order to write a post, so a week or two could pass before that happens. Sometimes (lately), I will post more frequently. Another reason why I may not blog as often is that it takes me a few hours to write a post. This goes back to what Richard said about worrying about spelling and grammar. He spends less time worrying and more time writing. Perhaps I should heed his advice. As for keeping it short, anytime I've been asked to blog for other publications such as Huffington Post or Secret Life of Scientists, they've always suggested posts that are less than 500 words.  On the other hand, sometimes you have a lot to say, for example this post is WAY over 500 words. It's OK to break the rules.

"Criticism comes with the territory of blogging. Keep on blogging because in two weeks the blog-o-sphere critics will be on to a new topic," says Richard. 

Richard is right-on with this one! I try to have thick skin, but as Richard stated in his post, it does hurt when people take jabs at you rather than stick to the subject. Don't feel compelled to respond to every comment. Sometimes no response is the best response. On the other hand, DO try to respond to some comments. Those who take the time to leave a comment on your blog, do like to know you're at least reading them and are appreciative of their interest. 

Here are a few more:

• More about growing your audience. Don't be afraid to share your post on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Plurk or anywhere else you hangout online. Lots of people don't even use RSS readers anymore and are depending on their social networks to find good stuff. 
  
• Remember Tamagotchi® ?Tamagotchi are those dumb electronic "toys" that have to be played with and fed or they will "die." My kids had them years ago and although I thought they were dumb, they were crazy about them to the extent that while they took their swim lessons, I was feeding and rocking their Tamagotchi. In this sense blogs also have to be nurtured and fed. I suggest you do your part and read and comment on the blogs of others. Find new conversations and try to expand to new lesser-known voices. Commenting on other people's blogs will bring commenters back to your blog. Commenting via Twitter is nice but tends to frustrate a lot of bloggers who end up with comments all over Twitter and very few at the site of their post. Best bet? Comment on Twitter, Re-Tweet the post if you like it, AND comment at the post. This will also help grow your audience. 
  Part of nurturing the blogosphere is providing links in your posts wherever possible. This is not only helpful if someone wants to learn more, but it's also courteous. If you mention someone who has a blog or other online presence, it is generally considered the right thing to do to provide a link to their space.
  
• Don't pigeon-hole yourself into a particular style. Post (embed) a video that caught your attention, create a list of favorite things, post one of your favorite lessons for teaching something or share a story one of your students wrote (be sure you have permission and be careful about using real names and photos). Sometimes, if we feel it's not appropriate for the space we've created, then we tend not to share it. "Hogwash," I say.
  
• It's OK to write when you're upset. Often the most passionate posts generate the most thought-provoking conversations. Just be careful about how rant. Let someone you trust (not someone who tells you everything you like to hear) proofread for you. If you don't want your parents, students, principal or the police to read your post, then don't publish it. Follow the Golden Rule of writing while angry. Write it and put it aside until you've cooled down, then read it again. If you still like what you've read, go for it.
  
• Start with a great image and give credit where credit is due. Using an interesting image will do a lot to hook your readers and help make your point. Search Flickr Creative Commons or try:
• Compfight - another way to find Creative Commons (CC) images
• Custom Search for CC Images by Ken Shelton
  
• Disclose and avoid any appearance of impropriety. Richard mentioned this, too. People are funny about this, and rightly so. When you mention a company or recommend a service, it may APPEAR that you are promoting their product; maybe you are and maybe you aren't. But unless you say so, people don't know and may file your post under S for "Skeptical" or worse yet, "Slimy." If you are being paid for a post-related task, be sure to be clear about it, as I was here. If you have other corporate relationships, it's best to disclose them. My disclosure statement is on my About Me page. Kevin Jarrett does an excellent job with his disclosure statements. 



Kevin Jarrett's Blog: http://www.ncs-tech.org/?p=7041

Happy New Year and remember to ask lots of questions!

~ Lee

Why Do You Use Twitter?

Student Plagiarizing: Internet Addiction or Poor Preparation?

In response to Anastasia Rubis: 'Tis the Season, for Student Plagiarizing:

I say, "I agree that this has nothing to do with Internet addiction. It has more to do with us (educators­) not properly preparing our students for how to do real research and write effectivel­y without plagiarizi­ng. Sometimes, professors ask students such obscure questions that the students just don't understand what they're being asked to do. In an effort to sound very academic, professors can tend to confuse students. Often, phrasing a task as simply as possible will yield the most thought-pr­ovoking responses. I've always felt that if an answer can be Googled, then we're probably not asking the right questions."

This doesn't absolve students from unethical behavior, but I do believe students who plagiarize feel trapped and if better prepared would have a better understanding of their options.

What do you say?

'via Blog this'

Conferences and Online Safety 101

Image Source: free-clipart.net

If you are attending ISTE 2012, or any conference for that matter, there are many things to look forward to and be excited about. It's easy to get enthusiastic and when you use Twitter as much as I do, it's easy to forget to also think about safety. As conferences start rolling around, it's fun to follow hashtags whether you attend in person or not. People will follow #iste12, for example, for session discussions, resources and sometimes to find out WHERE PEOPLE ARE.

Warning #1
I don't meant to be sexist, but it seems that men are not as concerned about this, so this is especially for women. Don't PUBLICLY announce on Facebook or Twitter what hotel you will be/are staying at. A few years back, I had someone who follows me online show up at my hotel to meet me. It was not a mutually agreed upon meeting, I was not expecting this and he must have known where I was staying due to me being too public about my whereabouts. Silly me. I'm sure he meant no harm, but it scared me. It is good to know that hotels are NOT supposed to give out any information about whether or not you are a guest at their hotel to anyone. I now check with the hotel about their policy on this when I check in. Another FYI: They are also NOT supposed to say your room number out loud to you when you check in (unless visually impaired).

Warning #2
If you live alone, and you have enough of a web presence for others to know this, don't announce your departure and arrival times. This means your home may be unattended.

Warning #3
There are likely to be parties or meet-ups. Think carefully about where you are going, who you are traveling with and whether or not you really want your location Tweets public. Use DMs or text messages whenever possible; especially if a meet-up is at someone else's rental or hotel. This one is for men, too: Think about whether or not you are "outting" someone else's hotel or housing location.


Butt Into Someone Else's Business
This blogpost came about because as I was searching around Twitter about an upcoming conference, I noticed someone had Tweeted how excited she is about attending and where she will be staying. I am not linking to the Tweet, nor did I capture a screenshot; doing either would only publicize her Tweet further.

When I see these Tweets from women I know, I will usually simply suggest that they not publicly announce their housing location and they may want to delete the Tweets. It's only a suggestion and they're certainly free to do whatever they want. Normally, I try not to butt into other people's business but I do think we need to look out for each other. I always waver as to whether I should say anything or not, but then I think about the fact that I would greatly appreciate it if someone did that for me.

A note about Facebook. As you may already know, Facebook is well known for frequently adjusting their privacy settings. Even with notification, users are often confused. You may want to check your privacy setting on Facebook and be sure that IF YOU WANT your photos, posts, likes, and comments elsewhere available only to friends or even posted on your wall at all, then that is actually what is set. Also, be sure your Twitter and FB passwords are secure. Click here for a helpful video from Common Craft on using secure passwords.

What do you think? Am I overly cautious? Should I mind my own business? What are your safety tips for attending conferences?

I look forward to your comments.

While you're thinking, if you're not already creeped out enough, you may want to try this live action interactive Facebook connect experience, Take This Lollipop.

Disclosure Statement: Common Craft has provided me with a free membership to their service with the understanding of no obligation on my part. I believe in the power of simple explanations such as those used in the videos created by Common Craft. When I use them in my posts, it is my personal choice with no benefit to me other than providing a valuable service to my readers.