Social media

Photo credit: signposting by Em Mires

I already like a lot of people use social media for a variety of reasons from social in the sense of personal life and also social in terms of finding out information for related subjects for work purposes.

Facebook - I was persuaded to join facebook a number of years ago by a colleague, at first I was not that convinced that it would be useful or something that I would use all that often - this of course was prior to it going global and being the number one choice for the majority. I still use it (although not as much) mainly to keep in contact with friends who have departed to far flung countries so that I can see all their photos and growing families. I also find it incredibly useful for keeping up to date with events and things that I am interested in, I seldom now have to buy listings like TimeOut etc.

LinkedIn - I haven't ever signed up to it although I have seen it, so I created an account to see what it had to offer. I think it may be a useful way to professionally keep in contact with colleagues as opposed to adding on facebook if this is used as a more personal tool. The jury is still out on this for me.

Twitter - I do have a generic twitter account that I set up a while ago, I rarely tweet but use it to follow organisations or people linked to the types of subject areas that I support i.e RIBA ad other library people. I have to say this is a real benefit and a great way to find out information quickly, I don't think I am using it to its potential at all and really need to spend some time thinking about how I can publicise the subject blogs I keep and to make better contacts with any academics within the school who may be enthusiasts. I do follow the University of Westminster.

In my mind there is no question that social media will continue to play a key role (advent of Google +) in communications, although of course there is always a need and desire for face to face contact but with limited time and money social media can bridge the divides between distances and helps to disperse and share knowledge quickly helping to build new professional and soacial networks at the same time. A concern for me within education is digital literacy and whether this is addressed?