Chapter 6: The Social Web: Learning together

I thought that this chapter would mainly be about Facebook, which is probably the most popular social networking networking site at the moment. I found however the focus on Twitter was much more interesting than I presumed. I have had a twitter account for a while but found it boring. My daughter has used it a lot with her friends and they generally follow celebrities for fun. It was fun at first but then I become bored with it. I had no idea that there was so much more you could do with Twitter. I have re-signed up and would like to see if I can use it in a different way.

What interested me most about twitter that I never even thought of was the ability to search for topics of interest. This would allow me to join discussions about books or other interesting things in order to converse or just read opinions on my topic of choice.  Also using a feed which I have yet to figure out, is another way to stay present with the conversation in case I want to include my own input and join a discussion. Each chapter I read in this book takes me deeper and deeper into the infinite resources of the web. It’s amazing yet overwhelming. I’m sure as I get used to some of these applications I will be able to contain my access to personal  and professional interests which will allow me to dig deep but not overwhelm me with the unbelievable amount of choices. I wonder if this is the way people felt when libraries were originally set up. I know that when I have visited NYC library it has been amazing that the size and access is so endless.  When I was a teenager I often used the library to access articles about things that interested me. I would dig deep by using periodicals with allowed me to access past material and articles of interest. I think this is really the same only the ability to stay current interactive with discussions is a way to be much more collaborative and less time consuming once you understand the features of the tools that are used.