Monday, October 19, 2015

Social Media~What works and what doesn't, for now...




    Once again, welcome back to the most informative, groundbreaking and exciting blog you'll read (this minute!)  We are discussing all the forms of social media and what works for us professionally and personally.

      I have been on social media for about a decade now.  When my children wanted Facebook pages, (Thank you, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg,) I made the stipulation that I would create one and then they would have to be friends with me.  “No problem!” they said.  Well, we are all still on Facebook and we are all still friends; who knows what they have used “Messenger” for.  I can’t catch them at everything but I can let them know that I am there (insert creepy laugh.)  I use Facebook for the library so I can post upcoming events, or things we have done during the week.
     I found Goodreads in July, 2007, and would spend entire weekends on that website.  I think one of my kids graduated HS and I didn’t notice!!  Hee, hee, just kidding.  Of course, after being an elementary library specialist for almost ten years, I had A LOT of books to enter.  The great thing is, when parents ask for book recommendations for their child or themselves, I send them to Goodreads to look at my account.  Goodreads is a social cataloging website that was created by Otis and Elizabeth Chandler in 2006 and launched in January, 2007.  In March 2013, Amazon bought Goodreads.  
     I found Pinterest soon after, that site is also addicting.  I knew I would do everything I pinned.  So far, I have found recipes that I will never make, crafts I will never do, and clothes that I can’t afford to buy.  The one thing I found was my next tattoo, so pretty.  However, I love the website. I have created a school board with great ideas, I might have even created a couple!  Pinterest was created in December 2009 by cofounders Ben Silbermann, Evan Sharp and Paul Sciarra, and was launched in 2010.
     Clearly, my own three children were the reason I ever entered the social media platform to begin with.  This includes the accounts I have for Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter.  I have Snapchat so my kids could send me things, although I have never sent a Snapchat of my own.  I can probably delete that account, as they aren’t using it much anymore.  My Instagram account was the result of a class I was taking.  I am leery of putting any student pictures online, even if there is no media restriction for that child.  Last week for my video post on my blog, I spoke to each parent and got their consent.  I hear that educators are using it, but I know that they are teaching in the older grades.  Which leaves me with Twitter.  Again, I signed up with the help of my daughter and I can see me using it in the library, I just have to remember to do it!!  I kept the same account and just changed my name on Twitter to “MsLarrabee,” to make it more in line with school and the book club.  I am going to “tweet” something this week!!  I have added 70 new “following” links, which will hopefully prompt me to check it more often.
     I have a LinkedIn account and I have not mastered that site yet.  I spend more time inadvertently sending out invitations to people that I don’t want to send them to (they shall remain nameless!)  I keep trying to navigate the website because the professional connections that can be made there are fantastic.  Of course, I have the free account, maybe the premium accounts are easier to use?
    I have a Tumblr account; I have no idea when I set it up and there is absolutely nothing on it.  The scary thing is, that don’t surprise me.  Maybe I set it up, and then found some other form of social media better.  It certainly looks like it does everything, I wonder why I never went back?  Ahhhh, the beauty of too many accounts!  I think I should spend time using the ones I have to see if they are a fit for me and the library, instead of signing up for more accounts that I won’t use.
    Thanks for coming back, see you next week!  Happy Reading...

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