Social Media – What does it all mean?

Guest Posting By: Robyn Stegman, Learn & Serve AmeriCorps*VISTA and the Learn & Serve – Michigan Team

In the past few weeks you might have noticed some changes here at Learn and Serve – Michigan. We have launched our Facebook Fan Page and a Twitter account. We have added new members to our NING site and new posts to our Youth Service Blog.  For some people these have been exciting changes – for others we are speaking a foreign language. NING? Blog? Twitter? Facebook? Perhaps you have only heard them in passing. Perhaps you have never heard them at all.

We have all used networking. Say Susan, the teacher, is at her friend Terry’s annual Christmas party where she runs into Joe. Joe is getting rid of all of his kid’s old art supplies. Susan knows her school’s art teacher would love the treasure trove of markers, paints, and paper Joe was planning on throwing away, so she offers to take them off his hands and the school’s art teacher now has more supplies.

Social media isn’t all that different! Except now Sue can still find out what Joe is up to, even if he moved to Uganda. Now Sue is connected with not only her friends but her friends of friends of friends. Now she is connected to a lot more opportunities to find art supplies or information through the internet. Facebook is not all that different then a get-together at Terry’s Christmas party, but now Sue is partying with thousands of people. Social media allows us to connect to each other in new and interesting ways.

Intrigued? We hope so! The fact is Facebook, Twitter, NING, and other social networking sites are being used in a lot of interesting ways.

Take Twitter for example: last year astronauts posted updates on Twitter from space and it was famously used to help combat fraud in the Iranian presidential election. Last year an event called “Tweetsgiving” raised over 10,000 dollars in 48 hours. Just think of what Twitter could do for you!

Let’s take a look at the way Learn and Serve – Michigan are taking advantage of these resources:

Facebook
What is it: A social networking site that allows you to post events, pictures, updates, links, videos, etc.
How we use it: We have a Fan Page that gives news updates and shares resources with our grantees and the general public.
Link: http://www.facebook.com/learnandservemi 

Twitter:
What is it: A social networking site that allows users to post news and updates that are 140 characters or less.
How we use it: We use it to update our followers with the latest resources, events, and news as well as report on events such as the annual grantee meeting.
Link: www.twitter.com/learnandservemi

Blog:
What is it: An online journal that allows you to post reflections, commentaries, and informative posts.
How we use it: Our blog is used to post on topics helpful for our grantees as well as post updates and successes of service-learning around the state.
Link: http://michiganslyc.blogspot.com

NING
What is it: A site that allows you to create your own private social networking site where users can create profiles, and post photos, videos, questions, etc.
How we use it: Our NING allows our grantees to network and share information and is a way for us to stay in touch with our grantees.
Link: www.learnandservemi.ning.com

YouTube
What is it: A site to post and share videos.
How we use it: We share our channel with others at the Michigan Community Service Commission to post our grantees stories along with PSAs and other useful videos.
Link: www.youtube.com/MCSConline

One last note: Many people at our recent grantee meeting have brought up an interesting point. What do you do when your school does not allow you to access sites like Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube during the day? Well there are two ways to go about it. The first is to talk with your tech folks and find solutions. Perhaps you should create your own social network like Deb Wagner of Ionia County ISD. Or you could create a way for teachers to bypass online restrictions. NING might be a solution. I have yet to hear of a school that blocks NING and it allows a private space for you to network with other students and teachers.

Our best advice for anyone looking at social media options it to just go through trial and error. If you want to get on Twitter, set up an account and follow five to 10 good organizations. Spend about 10 minutes every day on Twitter for about a month before you decide to do something big with it, just to get a feel for the culture and usage. It might work for you or it might not.