E3 2012 Professional Development Session - Conestoga College

1. Be g i
nne r
Presented by
Quinn Battersby @qbattersby
Melanie Parlette

2. DEFINITION OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media are primarily internet and mobile-based tools
for sharing and discussing information among human
beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate
technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and
the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio.
More than just a definition it impacts people and our society
enormously.

3. WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES
Overall: Understand the benefits of social media through application.
• Define RSS feeds
• Find RSS feeds that match your interest, and add them to
Google Reader
• Create connections between RSS content and Professional
Development from a fundamental standpoint
• Define Twitter
• Understand Twitter terminology, including RTs, @mentions,
#hashtags and more
• Follow people and companies of interests
• Learn how to apply Twitter to your Professional Development

5. Image Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25031050@N06/3292307605/sizes/z/in/photostream/

6. Image Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/verbeeldingskr8/3638834128/sizes/z/in/photostream/

7. AN RSS FEED READER CAN HELP.

8. www.google.com/reade

9. www.google.com/reade

10. Or sign in if you have
already created a Google
Account that you would like
to use.
www.google.com/reade

11. GETTING STARTED (2 WAYS TO ADD FEEDS)
In Google Reader: From a blog or site using Firefox:
1. Click the Subscribe button in 1. Click Bookmarks
your left-hand sidebar 2. Click Subscribe to this Page
2. Enter the URL of the blog or site 3. Select Google from dropdown for
you’d like to subscribe to. Subscribe to this feed using:
4. Click Subscribe Now
5. Click Add to Google Reader

12. WHAT CAN I SUBSCRIBE TO?
Dilbert Nature
http://bit.ly/m74kNG http://bit.ly/leo3M
V
Conestoga College News
http://bit.ly/conestoganews
Subscription Options . .
. Academic
News Sites Magazines Blogs
Journals

13. GETTING TO KNOW YOUR GOOGLE READER. . .
• Prioritize, you
don’t need to read
EVERYTHING!

14. GETTING TO KNOW YOUR GOOGLE READER. . .
• Do a weekly cleanup

15. GETTING TO KNOW YOUR GOOGLE READER. . .
• Dedicate a certain
time to read your
feeds
(build it into your
routine)

16. GOOGLE READER IN THE CLASSROOM
for students
Keep track of news
Read items shared
and information Collect and Share
by their teachers to
relative to their research materials
help with
studies and for projects
assignments
personal interests

17. GOOGLE READER IN THE CLASSROOM
for staff+faculty
Read other
Keep track of
educator’s blogs for
student blogs all in
ideas, current
one place
research, and tips
Share news with
Share news and
colleagues and
current events
students (you can
relevant to current
annotate to add
classroom topics
value!)

20. REALLY, WHAT IS TWITTER?
Twitter is an online social networking tool in which users
post 140 character updates of what is going on in their lives
along with links to things they think are interesting, funny, or
useful to their followers (“following” being essentially what
“friending” is on other sites).

21. REALLY, WHAT IS TWITTER?
People use twitter in many ways:
• as a newsfeed by following prominent people or networks
• as a pseudo-chatroom by limiting their followers and
whom they follow to close friends and family
• as a microblog for updating people about the work they
are doing and their personal lives.

22. TWITTER TERMINOLOGY – FEED (TWEETS)
Feed: The stream of tweets you see on your homepage. It’s comprised
of updates from users you follow.
You can always access your feed by using the Home button on the
Twitter website.

23. TWITTER TERMINOLOGY - RETWEET
Retweet or RT – is when you want to forward or share a
tweet that someone else said with your followers.
• You can use the RT button
• Copy the tweet and paste in your message with RT in front of
it
• Include via @username

24. TWITTER TERMINOLOGY – MENTION (@)
A way to reference another user by his username in a tweet (e.g.
@qbattersby). Users are notified when @mentioned. It’s a way
to conduct discussions with other users in a public realm.
Semi private, must be following @sendinguser and
@receivinguser to view.

25. TWITTER TERMINOLOGY - #HASHTAGS
A way to denote a topic of conversation or participate in a larger
linked discussion (e.g. #AmericanIdol, #Obama). A hashtag is a
discovery tool that allows others to find your tweets, based on
topics. You can also click on a hashtag to see all the tweets that
mention it in real time — even from people you don’t follow
They contain no spaces or punctuation and begin with a #
symbol.
• Events like conferences or concerts will encourage attendees
to add a particular hash tag to their tweets to unite attendees.
(ie. #e3conestoga)
• Trending topics are typically created by using hash tags – for
instance a user might create a hashtag as a fun way to start a
conversation. (ie. #13thingsilove)

26. LETS LOGIN & GET STARTED
1. Goto http://www.twitter.com
2. Input your username and password you created before this
session.
3. You will be presented with your newsfeed (Tweets), when
you start following people their tweets will show up here.
4. Start following some people – search for the person next to
you using their “handle” or username!
5. Tweet the person next to you using @username and some
text.
6. Add more interests and follow more people using the search
or the sidebar with recommendations and trending topics or
by clicking Discover.

27. FOLLOW SOME MORE USERS
Some suggested accounts to follow:
@conestogac @conestogabooks @nytimes
@qbattersby @melanie_sarah @groupon
@ignitewaterloo @tedxwaterloo @nationalpost
@wr_record @conestogamall @martinsapples
@guykawasaki @wagjag @flyykf @torontostar
@ctvswo @ohlrangers @kw_oktoberfest @tedtalk
@wired @dougcoupland @rickmercer @dtapscott
@astro_paolo

28. RELATING TO YOUR VOCATION
Faculty may follow users that provide valuable information
about the field of which they are preparing their students.
Some suggestions
Engineering - @twittereng
Media & Design - @smashingmag
Nursing - @nursingideas
Sciences - @guardianscience

29. RELATING TO YOUR VOCATION
Staff may follow users that relate to their specific area –
ability to provide fresh and relevant information about their
area in general.
Some suggestions
Bookstore - @pearson
Co-op & Career Services - @kitchener_jobs
Continuing Education - @allaboutcareers
Alumni - @wonderfulwat

30. NEXT STEPS WITH TWITTER
1. Write your 140 character biography
2. Include an image of yourself (use a current facebook
photo?)
3. Engage with users or just be engaged by users
4. Smart phone applications (iPhone, Blackberry, Android)

31. SOCIAL MEDIA BEST PRACTICES
1. Social Media is social, what you do online other
people will see
2. Keep in mind the image you are presenting
online as a Conestoga community member
3. Give credit where credit is due

32. Be Social.
Have fun with it.