You would think I know a lot about social media. I use Facebook, Delicious, Twitter, LinkedIn and a few other web sites on a regular basis. My children think that I should probably use these less. I don’t really worry about it as I am as likely to not use these as I am to use them. I can live without them but prefer to know what is going on in my friends’ lives.
I use social media for work also. Social media is defined as media “disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.” These forms of media are up and coming ways to communicate and have a conversation with consumers if you are a business.
I tend to feel that you can always learn so I try to find courses and seminars on areas that interest me. I went to a free seminar Time Warner Business Class offered in Binghamton back in October. Matt Hames spoke on social media. The seminar was well attended and I learned a lot, including a lot about Delicious which I had not been using much at that time.
I have spent the last two Friday afternoons in Ithaca at Alternatives FCU. The six hours were two afternoons on social media. One day concentrated on Facebook, the other on Twitter. I learned a lot even though I use both on a daily basis.
In case you are interested in taking a class at Alternatives, you can check out Business Cents on their web site. Below are some pictures from my experience there.
For once it was someone else who made up the word but the word is perfect. Last evening I attended a TweetUp that had been dubbed Twithaca – with a hashtag in front of it if you are on Twitter.
This gathering was of local to the Ithaca area Twitter enthusiasts. It involved food and drink and balloon creations. What good party doesn’t have a balloon artist?
I met some fantastic people and became reacquainted with a few that I had already met. Below are some of the photos I took. As soon as The Ithacan gets an article up, I will come back and link to that.
I have used Twitter during minor breaking news stories and major one previously but today, the ease of use and how much information is available hit home again.
I was on Twitter as breaking news was happening 250 miles away at the University at Buffalo. I follow several people from the Buffalo area on Twitter and one of them re-tweeted news from campus of the library on North Campus being evacuated due to a suspected gunman. I immediately called my son who was amazed at the information I had but that had not gotten out to the student community yet.
My son and I talked back and forth while the local newspaper also asked me questions as I had sent them some information I had gotten from Buffalo. I left the computer to attend a meeting, staying in text touch with my son to be sure all was okay as he was not at his apartment but couldn’t really leave where he was.
I am fairly certain my son would not have thought to call me until this had hit papers the next day. He does know that I check the Buffalo News each morning along with my blog list. Even then, those of us in our early 20′s don’t necessarily attach importance to the same things our parents do so he may not have called then.
While I am by no means a helicopter parent, I do like to know what is going on. I also like to know when a major incident, whether proven or not, happens. I don’t check in daily with my son or any of my college kids. I open up AIM in case they want to contact me as that is easy for them.
How do you keep in touch with your college-aged children? How do you envision keeping in touch when your little ones get older? When do we truly let go?
I have to admit that I quickly became a big Twitter fan once I started using it and leaving it open in my browser. I can let friends, both distant and close, know brief synapsis of what is going on in my life or with whatever event I am attending.
Case in point, I tweeted from my mobile phone about the weather in Oneonta when taking Ben (#5) back to college. This allowed those who were concerned to know when I arrived home safely. Another case in point, I tweeted from Cornell University when my daughter and I went to a women’s ice hockey game in January. The unfortunate truth was this tweet was not a good one. I was annoyed that they had no ATM at the hockey rink and were only using a table as a way to buy tickets. This is a Division One sports program and Cornell was, at the time, the sixth ranked team in the country.
What I have come to discover is someone needs to teach local media how to use Twitter. There are the occasional breaking news tweets which are great. Unfortunately, there are just as many mornings where whoever is in charge of tweeting at the local paper comes into the office and tweets a link to every headline in the paper. It is at that time, and the time varies by day, that I want to “unfollow” pressconnects.
I follow local news as I like to be able to blog about events as they happen. I do not want every headline that I have usually already read to be regurgitated to me via Twitter.
Do you follow your local news on Twitter? Do you even have a Twitter account? How would you like to receive your local news headlines?
You can follow me at http://www.twitter.com/NickiinNY
I admit that back in July of 2008 I blogged about John McCain and his apparent disconnect with 21st century technology. I was astonished that he didn’t use email – even with the reasoning being medical – and was concerned that he could not connect with the youth of the voting world without a bit more high tech approach.
I am not saying that John McCain is coming close to catching up with President Obama in tech savvy happenings but someone or something must have rubbed off on him during the months of presidential campaigning. McCain, according to a political ticker from CNN, now has a Blackberry and is tweeting on Twitter with approximately 92,000 followers. While I realize that it could be a staffer doing the tweets, I will say that they are more in line with what Twitter is all about than other politicians. McCain’s tweets are possibly coming from his new Blackberry and are regarding floor votes. Many who use Twitter – not just politicians, but some singers I follow – don’t understand it. Either Meghan McCain has explained it very well to her father or someone else is tweeting as his tweets are spot on for the service.
Interested in tweets I make, you can find me here. Maybe interested in following McCain, you can find him here.
