Mobile App Revolution

Back in the early days of social media, I remember getting on Facebook and Myspace from my laptop and “socializing” online. It’s funny to think about how far social media has come in just a few short years. Many new social media innovations coincide with the popularization of smart phones like Blackberries, Android phones, and of course the iPhone. In the beginning, users would just hop onto their small-screened mobile web browsers and squint their eyes to read content and struggle to click around. I’m sure many users experienced a similar experience I did, such as accidentally “like”-ing something on Facebook while trying to navigate on my phone’s web browser.

Thankfully, someone came up with the wonderful idea of social media mobile applications. These apps are an amazing tool that have certainly broadened social media horizons. With so much time being diverted to social media it would only make sense that users would access social media from anywhere possible, especially their phones. Obviously many location based social media sites are actually best used on mobile phones, such as Foursquare and Gowalla, because users can check in using the GPS on their phone. Other social media sites are becoming more and more popular on mobile phones. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo recently announced that 40% of all Tweets come from a mobile phone. That’s up from 20-25% from a year ago.

Phone manufacturers have even realized the fact that many are using their phones for social media. Phones are beginning to become more focused around social media and staying connected (Remember the Kin?). Microsoft, for example, introduced the Windows 7 Phone, which is all about social media. On its “people hub” not only can you view your Facebook feed or contacts from Facebook, but with the “Me Card,” you can even update your status and change your profile picture across multiple social networking sites. For many phones, social media apps are pre-installed. Smart phones and social media seem to be a perfect combination. Phone manufactures like to market on social media sites, and social media sites love to be on cell phones - it’s a pretty mutually-beneficial relationship.

Another great thing about mobile apps for social media is the fact that different apps are being developed every day and if you don’t like one, another is probably on it’s way. With the abundance of twitter applications out there you can basically choose what information you want coming to you from Twitter, from only the latest tweets, to full site functionality, or even Twitterfeed, which offers to automatically tweet posts published on a blog using RSS.

It’s amazing to think where social media and cell phones will be in only a few more years, but for now, I’m content with social media apps.

What do you access you social media from, phone or computer?
Any thoughts on what phones best incorporate social media?

You Have a New Friend Request...

As a recent addition to the AllofE team, I thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Rachel and I am in my first year of a PhD program at the University of Kansas in Rhetoric & Composition. This past year I received my undergraduate degrees in English & Spanish and I hope to teach at a University in the future.

I know it sounds like a different profile than you might have expected of a person writing to you from AllofE, but I am confident that my personal style and varied interests bring something unique to the already exciting direction we're going right now.

And, well the truth is, I feel that I am a lot like the people AllofE Solutions works with, so let's connect! This past year I made a promise to myself that I would actively seek out knowledge about social media, technology, and ways to be a better connected teacher in the future. When I found the opportunity to work with AllofE Solutions and continue working toward my graduate degree, I knew it was the perfect fit. I represent many of the people directly affected and influenced by ContentM systems, higher education, and of course, social media. I want to learn outside of the classroom over the next few years and stay ahead of my colleagues. I hope ultimately I'll be more marketable as a teacher and socially connected as a person with this knowledge and experience that is necessary for success today in the U.S. I want to be connected: with other teachers, administrators, and most of all - my students.

Who am I?
I am a student. My weekly agenda, both academic and social, are run by these systems - I communicate, receive information, research, and spend every day working with social media and higher education curriculum management systems.
I am a future teacher. As early as next year I will be teaching my own classes, and as late as five years from now, I will be done taking classes and ready to be a full-time teacher. I need to know what is going on with these systems, how easily accessible they are to teachers, and how I can keep up with technology at the pace my students will be in their lives.
I research Language and Writing. Just last week, the professor of one of my classes stated that technology is changing the way language works in society, and the current generation (oh, that's me...and you!) needs to evolve with it in order to understand and work with it in the future. I'm here to keep evolving with this language. Too many times I have heard teachers concerned about holding onto the way they learned about language & books, assuming they cannot keep up with the changes in technology today. Why not learn how to "keep up" with it and use it to my advantage? If my students write differently because they communicate more via Twitter, Facebook, and texting, I won't turn my nose up and act as if it's not legitimate, because most likely it's the most legitimate language in their lives! I want to study and collaborate with them to see what writing can and will be in the future.
I am an alumna. Not only have I now entered a huge network of graduates from undergrad, I am also an alumna of a sorority, service fraternity, and a number of other social networks. Why wouldn't I want to keep up with those people, learn from others who have been out of school longer than me, and know how to utilize social media to connect in ways my parents couldn't have even imagined when they graduated from the same school almost 30 years before? That's just exciting. I can keep in touch with friends, connect with new colleagues, and continue to expand my social "network" exponentially each year.

So here I am. I love to write, I love challenges, and I love connecting with others. You may hear from me quite a bit about the exciting things that we have going on here at AllofE: about what I'm learning and how we can connect and evolve together. Survival of the fittest isn't so threatening when you know there are people like AllofE to make sure you come out on top.

Becoming a Branded Educator

Lately I've been working more and more closely with school district administrators and I'm seeing more and more benefits of establishing a strong, collective--yet focused--web presence as part of your personal brand. Furthermore, I'm really starting to see how those benefits relate to the schools and districts these educators represent.

Take the two I've worked most closely with, Eric and Patrick. These two have really got something going with their websites (Eric's // Patrick's). They have been amazing to work with so far and the three of us will now be hosting a Webinar talking about creating branded websites for educators, how it can be done, why it's important and the benefits of having a central hub for all aspects of your virtual brand (click here if you'd like more information about the Webinar). With their websites, not only do they keep the community, students, and parents in-the-know, but their entire Twitter PLN knows what's going on. They are better able to collaborate with schools from across the country. They can get their school in the news. But the best part is that the same sort of website will work for teacher too, not just administrators. The possibilities are endless. Just see below for a Prezi I created about building branded websites for Administrators:

Creating Branded websites for Administrators (ContentM for Administrators) on Prezi

And here's one for teachers:

ContentM for Educators: Teacher and Classroom Sites on Prezi

Social media affects every single one of us (student, educator, teacher, professor, or administrator--and all those outside of education), whether we realize it or not. It's a conversation, it's news, it's now.

We are working to establish a platform that enhances the use of social media in education and brings together all aspects of an educator's brand. It will harness the sheer power of social media and add immense value to an educator's brand. It is so exciting to me to see all of the educators I chat with on Twitter (both K-12 and Higher Ed.) that are working to form this sort of revolution in education. These educators are using tools to better their students, their schools, and their districts. And to increase learning, engagement, and excitement about education.

As a current student myself, I have yet to see anything even relating to social media in any of my classes (neither as a topic nor a tool), and it's very disappointing to me, as I can see daily the affects of using social media in real-world application through the amazing educators (both K-12 and Higher Ed.) that I've met THROUGH social media. Such a disappointment. So many educators are lacking in [student engagement, making things more interesting, getting creative, trying something new, and the list goes on and on]. And also, not only are some educators unwilling to give social media a try, they put bans on things like YouTube, Facebook, etc. in the classroom and some even ask parents to ban all social networking at home.

Instead of all of this, teach students to use it safely, teach students in a way that engages them and gets them more involved in the lesson. The key is to use it well. It's not social media or technology for the sake of social media or technology, but it provides added-value to the lesson. It gets students excited about learning. Here's an example of one educator (Mr Haines) that realizes that students "don't care what they are taught, they care about how they are taught": Twanimal Farm.

It's so inspiring to me to have met so many educators that want to make a difference, and I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to talk to those that are passionate, and that are willing to try new things. The longer we keep up the conversation, the more people we get involved, and the more things change, this conversation becomes even more pertinent and more focused.

Jump on the Bandwagon!

The debate as to whether or not social media sites have an educational benefit seems to be never-ending, but as studies continue, there is more and more reason to believe that there is a lot to learn from social networking/media. Sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, and YouTube are teaching students the kinds of 21st century technology skills that professionals are expected to exude in the real world.

"Students are developing a positive attitude toward using technology systems, editing and customizing content and thinking about online design and layout,” said Christine Greenhow, a learning technologies researcher at the University of Minnesota. “They're also sharing creative original work like poetry and film and practicing safe and responsible use of information and technology. The websites offer tremendous educational potential."

Colleges spanning the country ranging from Stanford to Duke are choosing to use popular social media sites as part of their curriculum. The following is a list of schools that are using social media in a new and innovative way:

At the City University of New York, Professor Jeff Jarvis is teaching a class that focuses on the use of social media for newsgathering. This is a class only offered to graduate students in the Graduate School of Journalism and it teaches students that they can find breaking news with the use of real-time searches.

There have been numerous times throughout my college career when I’ve been given an assignment, but just can’t get the creative juices flowing and can’t seem to get an idea together. But luckily for the students at Stanford, that will never be an issue for them. Faculty and student projects can be found on the school’s Facebook page, so if you find yourself looking for inspiration, the page is filled with videos, pictures, and other previously done works.

The use of Twitter and Facebook is one thing; though incredibly useful, neither requires much effort. But the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has found a way to take things to the next level. They created their own channel on YouTube and packed it tightly with information and educational videos. These videos relate to topics such as health care, medicine, business, and information technology, all of which serve as aids in the classroom.

Colleges and universities aren’t the only ones hopping on the social media bandwagon. Chris Copeland, a Birmingham language arts teacher at Vestavia Hills H.S., uses Twitter to tweet his lesson plans. Not only does he feel that his tweets make it easier to keep up with what’s going on, but he also feels that sharing lesson plans on Twitter can help other teachers get good ideas for their own lessons. Furthermore, tweeting keeps a record of what has been happening in the classroom, which proves to be extremely beneficial for absent students.

Although there is no doubt that these social media sites can prove to be more than beneficial, some teachers would argue that they can be incredibly distracting. A recent and very popular trend has been to live tweet in the classrooms. Some say that it is engaging and encourages students to take part in interactive learning who might otherwise sit in the back corner of the classroom and not say anything. However, others say that Twitter is too fast paced; everyone must fully understand it to make it work, and the extreme multi-tasking can be unhealthy for students.

“Students have to ‘get’ Twitter before live-tweeting,” Kris Aylett from Ocean Springs, Mississippi said. “I found it a distraction in class. Students would tweet two times and text or use Facebook the rest of the time.”

The debate will continue to rage on, but where do you stand? Are you a socialite?

Getting My "Tweet" Wet

I’ll be the first to admit it; I was not a fan of Twitter. Actually, there is no way I am the first to admit that. Surely people all over the world could not figure out the point or logic behind “tweeting” constant updates about your life to complete strangers. I tried everything. I bought a book called Twitter for Dummies, I designed my own fun little background, I even followed by life long idol Britney Spears, and yet I could still not see the light behind this social networking God called Twitter. I mean, do people really care about my petty tweets that read, “I’m going to cut my hair like Kate Gosselin tomorrow” or “I hate snow”? Surely not.

But then I began working in the real world, and come to find out, Twitter does serve a purpose beyond simply stalking your favorite celebrities or the cute guy next door (and his pestering girlfriend, but details are relative). No, actually it can be a highly effective source for sharing and receiving information. For example, after I post this blog entry, I will tweet about it, thus generating more readers. But seriously, Twitter is like a dream come true for businesses. Who would have thought that such a wide variety of information can be conveyed in 140 words or less?

For example, I work at a computer software company that specializes in custom and complex projects for major universities, Fortune 500 companies, government organizations and leading K-12 school districts, but my area of concentration is our latest content management system for higher education. I thought Twitter may be of some use to me, not so much to sell the product, but just to connect with others and see what people are saying about the current CMS market. Come to find out, I was dead on. It’s amazing how many people actually tweet about CMS.

Today, however, I came across a tweet that was disheartening, yet admittedly, a little exciting. Jstepka is a man I have never met. I don’t know what he does, where he’s from, or what his interests are. But I do know that approximately 16 minutes ago he tweeted, “Every CMS, ever, sucks ass.” Tweets like this tell me two things: 1. He has obviously never tried out our product – POTENTIAL CLIENT (just kidding) and number 2. There is obviously a very ripe market for a quality content management system.

This man seems to be what I would call a “twit”, which is my new hip term for people that tweet their innermost thoughts and opinions at least once a day. Now, I do believe that he would not have posted that “every CMS sucks” unless he truly meant it. Obviously something so astoundingly awful happened between him and his CMS that pushed him right over the edge. So as a marketer, I now know that at any given moment people are experiencing this loathing for their CMS, which boosts my confidence for the next time I pick up the phone to talk about a quality content management system.

At last, I have discovered a meaningful purpose for Twitter. Now I can rest this weekend.