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Education Through Social Media

In this new age of technology, social media is one of the biggest influences on pop culture, politics, and news around the world. Educational innovations are now being shared in numerous ways through the internet every single second of the day! In my opinion, this is probably the best thing that ever happened to the education world.Within the past five years of my teaching experience, I've seen an explosion of social media sites being used as progressive outlets for sharing resources, ideas, news, and announcements to communicate with students, teachers, staff, and parents. Ideas are circulating the world and helping educators become better at their jobs.

Some of the most popular social media sites are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Created in 2004, Facebook is considered a veteran in the internet world. It has survived through the years despite the popularity of newer sites. According to Our World in Data, Facebook has 2.4 billion users, making it the largest social media platform in the world (Ortiz-Ospina 2019). Since I am not a big fan of Facebook, I was a little bias going into this task. I find Facebook to be too overwhelming and out-dated. I relate it more to politics, businesses, and older folks (Sorry, most of my older family members use it on the daily). As I conducted my research through Facebook in search of academic and librarian related pages, I realized that it is a great source for organizations. I stumbled upon various useful pages that offered great ideas, events, and news about libraries. I came to the conclusion that Facebook is definitely a great social media platform mainly for adults. Parents, teachers, staff, and professionals would benefit from this social media source. I would use Facebook to promote my campus and keep parents and staff up-to-date with events, activities, projects, and social and academic opportunities taking place at the library.

Here are some of the few pages that were top searches:
https://www.facebook.com/EveryLibrary/ (research institution that provides support for libraries in the U.S)
https://www.facebook.com/Schoollibraries/ (cares about the future of libraries)
https://www.facebook.com/aaslala/ (empower leaders to transform, teach, and learn)
https://www.facebook.com/schlibcon/ (professional learning and development)
https://www.facebook.com/StudentsNeedSchoolLibraries/ (promotes positive digital footprint)
https://www.facebook.com/SchoolLibraryJournal/ (resources and ideas for professionals)

Furthermore, Twitter was created two years after Facebook in 2006. It's popularity has withstood the test of time. In my perspective, Twitter is mainly for sharing news, ideas, events, or just whatever is on your mind. It's like an outlet for your brain. I had never had a Twitter account up until two weeks ago (I know right...I need to get with the program). I have to say I'm loving it (Para-pa-pa-pa theme song in the background). I feel like I just discovered a powerful tool that is modern, easy to follow, and doesn't concentrate on "selfies". It's all about keeping the ideas flowing and going. I found so many useful pages on Twitter. I found myself scrolling through an endless array of educational sources that were both professional and personal. I already have tons of ideas of how I would use Twitter as a teacher and librarian. It is definitely great for all ages. I think it's a great source for staying in the loop of things. I'm definitely going to share articles, innovations, activities, motivational practices, and academic events.

Here are some of the professional organizations that I found amazing!:
https://twitter.com/iste (Dreaming big and empowering learners)
https://twitter.com/teacher2teacher (Where the teaching community connects)
https://twitter.com/aasl (Empowers leaders to transform and teach)
https://twitter.com/sljournal (Largest viewer of kids & YA content)
https://twitter.com/esc1library (South Texas)
https://twitter.com/yartxla (promote & improve library services)

Here are some of the personal pages that offered great sources of information:
https://twitter.com/GwynethJones (The Daring Librarian)
https://twitter.com/kathyschrock (Educational Technologist/EdTech presenter)
https://twitter.com/PaulWHankins (Reader, writer, and poet)

Moreover, the millennial's holy grail for self-indulgence, home decor, self-improvement, delicious dishes, and cute animals, is Instagram. Roughly around a decade old, Instagram was created in 2010 and has been active and growing ever since. This social media site is easy to use and straightforward; only allowing pictures and stories followed by hashtags. I've been an active member since 2012, and I love the simplicity of it and the personalization it allows. I've been following several #'s and profiles that offer great teaching tools and library ideas. I would use Instagram to promote books, classroom ideas, activities, projects, and school events.

Here are some of my top pages:
https://www.instagram.com/thenovicelibrarian/ (Elementary SLMS)
https://www.instagram.com/stefansbooks/ (Blogger/Book Reviews)
https://www.instagram.com/mrsosgoodsclass/ (Teaching inspiration & collaboration)
https://www.instagram.com/corymareads/ (Blog, readings, business)
https://www.instagram.com/inquisitivebookworm/?hl=en (Bookworm)
https://www.instagram.com/goodreads/?hl=en (Largest site for readers and book recommendations)

After all of my research and coming across great sources and web-pages, I have to say Twitter takes the cake! Based on my observations, the academic pages had the largest following compared to other social media sites. I believe parents, students, and staff would benefit from this social media source. I am glad to take part in this community of collaboration, progressive thinking, and surround myself in such boundless generosity of ideas.

Follow my accounts:
https://www.instagram.com/yaneth_0104/
https://twitter.com/YanethSolis12
https://storytimeapplesandbooks.blogspot.com/

Ortiz-Ospina, E. (2019, September 18). The rise of social media. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/rise-of-social-media

Comments

  1. Thanks for making me feel old! lol Kidding! I am an avid Facebook user, am finally on board with Twitter (and am in charge of two Twitter accounts at my school), but I'm still struggling to embrace Instagram for some reason ... although a far more appealing platform to me than Tumblr. I loved your recommendation and immediately went and added any of them that I wasn't already following.

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  2. I haven't been using Twitter very long either. I made an account a couple years ago, but only really started following people at the beginning of this course. I really think it is great for library inspiration, and I enjoy the quick links to news articles. However, it doesn't seem to really be catching on for students or parents in my community. Our parents and many of our students are active on our school's FB page, so for me, it would make more sense to create a library page there. Thanks for all your links. Especially the Instagram stuff. I am not active on Instagram the way I used to be, so it was good to see how it could be used educationally.

    ReplyDelete

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