Thing 12: Putting the Social into Social Media

There are aspects of social networking that I can clearly see are positive. By 'following' others who work in your field, via Twitter, professional awareness is definately broadened.

With Facebook - updates of what family and friends are up to are brought to your 'wall' with no effort or input. It's nice to know and you feel as though you're in touch, even though you haven't been. By ticking 'like' you can let your friends know that you know their news and are happy for them/approve. So this is all good. I won't go into the disadvantages of FB because I think they are too numerous for this blog and involve mainly young, vulnerable adults, vindictive bullies and other non-friendly activity that is amplified through this type of media.

Returning to 'professional development' - yes, you can learn stuff on-line, that has been passed your way by others. You can learn about free courses and meetings etc. and Twitter is often used as an early alerting system. The disadvantages, to my mind, are all to do with being 'too' personal, i.e.just because somebody is linked up to me as a contact, or 'friend' - this doesn't mean I would be feel easier about asking for a favour. I would not 'lean' on someone in this way. It would still be formal e-mail or phone call for me, every time. I always feel uncomfortable asking busy working people to assist me (with anything) anyway - so social media, for me, does not make this easier (or more likely).

Because of CPD 23, I did attend a 'meet up' to see fellow bloggers face-to-face. Maybe it's me, but I really didn't get anything out of the evening - other than confirmation that social media 'friends' are not really friends. Most of the group who attended already knew each other (they were work colleagues from the same University). There was no real discussion about CPD 23 - it was just an after work social gathering - of REAL friends. . . .

As far as using social media for my own career - I'm not new to the profession - or looking for a job and - because of my advanced years(!)it's unlikely that I'll ever be 'head-hunted'(lol) - so my involvment is to keep abreast of changing times; keep in touch with what our students are using and to keep my head above water!

As stated previously though, I do now use a professional blog for academic support. I'm not sure if anyone ever follows or even looks at it - but it's there (and I, for one, think it's quite good) :-)