My list of 100+ learning professionals to follow on Twitter has caused a bit of activity this week. Thousands of people have now viewed it and many of them have signed up to follow my C4LPTnews feed on Twitter, as well as others on the list. However, there has also been a bit of discussion on some blogs about the value of the exchanges or conversations taking place.
I have received a huge number of emails about the list and what seems to be the key thing for people are the new connections that they are making with others. They also say that when following individuals on Twitter, they feel much closer to them than they do by reading their blogs, and the fact that they are also able to interact with them on a much more immediate and personal level (than commenting on blogs allows) is very important to them. What is more, rather than being put off by the more personal nature of some of the exchanges taking place, they feel that this adds to the closeness, and helps to build a more complete picture of those they are following - rather than them just being rather impersonal bloggers. {Cammy Bean sums it up well in her blog posting, as does Tracy Hamilton]
And that's the whole point about social media - it enables people to establish connections with one another, and engage with them at all levels - both professionally and personally. And the point about my list was to help people find those with whom they would like to establish new connections.
Clearly Twitter is not everybody's "cup of tea", particular those who prefer more "arms length", professional interactions with others, but for those who enjoy more personal, social connections, then it seems to work.
Although I am continuing to add new names to the eduTwitterers list - in fact I'm still working my way through the large number of recommendations I've received - I'm now working on a new list: 100+ social networks for learning professionals to join. The purpose of this list is to help people find and establish professional connections with others in more formal networks.
I've currently got about 50 on my list, but this time I am going to ask for recommendations BEFORE I release the list. So if you know of a suitable network to add then please let me know. Here are the criteria for inclusion:
- It has to be free and open to join - ie no approval or moderation process to join up, or at least a very light touch process
- It can be either a general network for all educators or be specific to certain areas of education or training, e.g. college teachers or K-12 teachers, or trainers in a certain industry (and I'm certainly looking for more networks for workplace learning professionals)
- It can be available on the Ning platform, or it might be a Facebook group, or it could be on a different platform - but it should be more than just a discussion forum; as it should allow for member profiling and other networking activities.
I hope to be able to release the list next week, so thanks for your help in advance
