How Social Media Has Evolved
I’ve been using social media since 2006 when I started this blog. I got on Twitter in 2007 and was one of the first million users of the platform. For 11 years I’ve been fascinated by social media, and I’ve managed to integrate it into my work with Algonquin College as a professor, as well as Jester Creative, as a […]
Are We Too Focused on the Next Big Thing?
I swear it was within 24 hours of Periscope launching a few weeks ago that I saw the first post “15 Ways Brands Can Get the Most out of Periscope” (or something to that effect). While it’s all fine and well to have an eye to the future, I firmly believe that we are still […]
TV Is Not Dead
You hear it all the time. YouTube serves up hundreds of millions of videos per day. Video blogs are more popular than ever. And mainstream TV, with it’s so-called reality junk food shows like Jersey Shore, and endless reruns of Jerry Springer, is becoming redundant, is often repulsive, and ultimately will be rendered obsolete within […]
Taking a Step Back from the Social Marketing Game
It was nearly 4 years ago when I took my first baby steps into the world of social media. Before that blustery February day in Toronto, I didn’t really even know any of this existed. Oh sure, I’d been around the Interwebz for several years – but it had been mostly work-related, in the high […]
We Don’t Talk Anymore
Last week was a quiet class for me. My students were out doing video shoots for their latest assignment, so there were just a few people hanging around, working on editing and so on. One of my students approached and sat down to ask a few questions. Nothing out of the ordinary. A few minutes […]
Should You Connect with Your Students on Social Networks?
Note: I’m coming at this from the perspective of a College teacher, where my students are adults. I know there is fierce debate over teachers connecting on Facebook with high school or younger students. I’m not an expert on K-12 education, and can only speak from my own experience in adult education. This semester, I […]
How to Incorporate Emerging Technologies to your Teaching Today
I was thinking back to the first time I was in college, back in 1988 (ooh. I’m really dating myself now). There were no computers in the classroom. We lugged around armloads of textbooks and binders with foolscap clicked into them. There were no text messages coming in on our mobile phones to distract us […]
Why Are We So Hung Up on Influence?
Wow. Suddenly all anyone seems to be talking about in the social media world is influence. Tools like Klout, a system that uses some sort of complex calculation to say how influential you are on Twitter, are rising to popularity. Now, social media dashboard app HootSuite has jumped on the bandwagon too, posting Twitter users’ […]
How Reading a Newspaper Changed My Life
I had lunch yesterday with a friend I hadn’t seen in 13 years. It’s amazing how, with some people, you can just pick up where you left off. I am glad we’ve reconnected and look forward to getting to know her again. We talked and shared what we’d been up to the past several years. […]
If It All Ended Tomorrow
I’m sitting here this morning, going through my usual morning routine. Check email, reply to a few. Log onto Twitter, say good morning to people, see what’s going on. Check Facebook, reply to messages, comment on a few posts. Move over to my Google Reader, read a few of my faves, make note of some […]