DigiLit Sunday - Social Media Tools

      I love that Margaret Simon has started a Sunday Link Up for posts about digital literacy at her blog to challenge us to share our technology journeys.  

 

     I have a couple little things to share today about ways I've used technology in social media.  A couple weeks ago, I co-hosted an NCTE chat about summer professional learning with Nicholas Provencano  (@thenerdyteacher).  Nick encouraged me to use Tweetdeck for the chat, and I'm so glad I did!  I had been hearing about Tweetdeck for awhile, but had never used it.  I don't know why - it's pretty easy!  I watched a couple of YouTube videos to help me out:

 

Overview

 

How to schedule a tweet (useful for when you're hosting a chat - you can schedule the times for each question)

 

 

     Tweetdeck made following the chat so much easier since you set up columns, one of which is the chat column.  You can also set up other columns like mentions, notifications, favorites, etc.  I would highly recommend it if you are a Twitter enthusiast!

 

     Since we're talking about social media, I just finished a book called Show Your Work by Austin Kleon.  I was fortunate enough to receive it as a gift from Brenda Power during our Choice Literacy Writing Retreat.  It's a funny and informative book about showing your creative process.  He talks a lot about using social media just for that purpose.  It  encourages you to build a network of like-minded people on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc., and to put your ideas and work out there to share. It's a great book for writers and artists, but I also think it is very applicable to educators. I think collaboration is key for better schools, and I love my PLN built through social media as well as in my school.

 

 

     And one last techie thing used in social media: link-ups and memes.  I was inspired to start a link-up by the many link-ups/memes/blog hops I participate in.  Link-ups give you a place to start if you're not sure what to blog about that day, and helps you join a community of bloggers who participate in them.  I wanted to try it since I felt I needed an outlet for my spiritual journey as well as my reading, writing, and teaching journeys.  I decided Thursday was a good day since I wasn't participating in any other link-ups that day.  I wrote my post and then had to figure out how to have the participants link up.  I'm still working out the kinks!  I'm using InLinkz, and it is working okay, although I did something wrong this week, and the links went back to last week's post.  I'll get it eventually!  It's fun to try something new and very exciting to see people link up. Join us if you'd like at Spiritual Journey Thursdays.  If you're interested in starting a link-up, this video may help you get started:

 

 

Off to read how others are using technology!