Learning Networks

Tell me specifically:
(a) what network did you join?
I joined the Twitter network. Twitter is a social network and miniblogging site that allows for users to send and receive messages that are known are tweets.

(b) who are you following and what do they do for a living?
The majority of the people I am following are friends of mine who I either go to college with, went to high school with or have met along the way. Aside from following friends, I also follow informational sources, celebrities and organizations. Some of the information sources that I follow are The Miami Herald, CNN, The Gainesville Sun, The Alligator, OMGfcats and Barack Obama. Some of the celebrities I follow consist of John Mayer, Chad Ochocinco, Chelsea Lately, Dwayne Wade and The Miami Heat. And some of the organizations I follow are Public Relations Student Society of America(PRSSA), Gamma Eta (a multicultural sorority) and the Outrigger Hawaii.

(c) describe a conversation that you engaged in, e.g., what did you talk about?
A conversation that I was engaged in was set up by PRSSA. The chat was titled #ufprchat.

Here were the rules:
1. Include #ufprchat in every single tweet
2. On first use of the #ufprchat tag, introduce yourself using your
first and last name.
3. Stay on topic. Add "Q1" to represent the question number at the
beginning of your tweet. Include #ufprchat in your tweet.
4. Respect others.
5. Submit questions to Adrienne Browne (@msgatoradr) without the
hashtag #ufprchat.
6. No Florida State fans.

The chat was set up to connect alumni from PRSSA and the College of Journalism and Communication to current students and student who are graduating this semester. The main topic discussed during the chat was about how social media has changed and effected the public relations field. It was also any ones chance to ask alumni for advice or questions. I asked for tips on taking reporting (one of our colleges hardest classes).

(d) what did you learn from this process? Is this something you might find useful as a teacher?
One of the things I learned in this process was the power of social media and how effective social media's power is with communicating. I also learned good tips about the use of social media and how to brand yourself within its images for clients and the business world. This chat was a way of networking for me. I also learned that most alumni have found that teachers and adults have no idea how to use social media or incorporate it into their education. I found this very useful and would definitely encourage my students to partake in a chat as part of an assignment or project.