Thing #5 - Microblogging (11.5 More Things)

I have been on Facebook for several months now (after avoiding it for some time) and became very addicted early on. It's been really fun to reconnect with people I haven't seen in years (especially high school friends) and it's funny to see that most of them are generally still the same. It kind of feels like a virtual sense of what heaven might be like. You join Facebook (or enter the "pearly gates") and everyone who is already there from every walk of life embraces you. And I love it because all your contacts are right there, so you know that even if somebody moves you'll still have access to them on FB. Who needs Christmas cards anymore? And while I really don't need to know what Michael Yee is doing every two minutes of his life (that can get annoying), I do think microblogging can make you feel closer to people in general.


I just signed up for Twitter so I do not have as much experience with it, but I am excited to follow a bunch of celebrities. I am always reading in magazines that John Mayer Twittered "this," or Jessica Simpson Twittered "that," so it will be interesting to see if I am receiving the same "tweets" I read about.


While these microblogging sites are great, there can also be some negative things about them. For example, I know of couples who have fought about Facebook because the fear of not knowing who their spouse might be "reconnecting" with is concerning. And let's face it, the online love connection thing is alive and well!!! These mediums can also be a means for Internet bullying (I read that Lindsay Lohan got snubbed by Justin Timberlake recently so she Twittered a lie about seeing him cheating on his girlfriend). And online communication can often result in misunderstandings, as it's hard to always portray one's tone in their comments (which can ultimately change the meaning of something said).


As far as educational uses go, you can certainly use either of these mediums for collaboration between students or colleagues, and I have heard of teachers having students create Facebook profiles for fictional or historical characters for a project (and I think she had them make comments like the characters would have done). Groups can also be set up on FB as a means for discussing specific things (my church community group has a group set up on FB). I think back-channeling is a great tool if used in the right setting. I doubt many middle school students are going to pay much attention to a speaker if they have a phone in hand. However, when a Holocaust survivor came to speak at our school, it would have been useful for students to be able to back-channel questions for him to answer.


I think Twitter is more for the famed, as celebrities are the ones who are going to have the followers. For example, I am following Lance Armstrong and he is "Twittering" a play by play of what is going on at the Tour de France right now, which is way cool if you are into that. You can also follow the NBA and such to learn about the latest and greatest goings on before it hits the newsstands. And Twitter certainly played a large role in the last presidential election... But for the average person, I think Facebook makes more sense.