She Rocks in the Tree Tops

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet says the little white birdy in the blue background. 

You can now follow me on Twitter at

@alysonbalzer

and Google + at

alyson.balzer

Yeah me!  Well not really.  I've been on twitter since 2009.  I have 3 tweets and 1 person following me.  Guess I'm not so popular or maybe I don't have anything to tweet.

Google +, same thing.  I've been on this social media site for awhile too, but no one cares about that one either.  This one is definitely not as popular as Facebook.   I have linked my blog to Google +, because every word I type a dialog box appears with links to people I don't know.  How fun!  (I'm about 50/50 on the sarcasm/truth here.)

What did I learn from this exercise of tweeting/Google+ -ing?  Other than Facebook, there are several other social media sites of interest that are applicable to learning, socializing, and networking.  Team Google has created an online environment that is extremely social media driven.  With the one account (i.e. your gmail address) you can access a multitude of applications.  The chats, hangouts, calendars, etc. are all very useful in organizing ones life and connecting with friends, family, and acquaintances.  And it's all free.

This activity, again, shows how social media is applicable in both personal and professional life.  As a teaching tool, "hangout" is a neat way to reach out to other professionals and students on a more personal level to discuss topics otherwise a little to difficult to tweet.  For the student aspect of Hangout - WOW!  I might not even have to go to a school to teach a class.

Again this activity is relevant to the ISTE NETST standard 5 of Professional Growth and Leadership.  Professional growth is establishing a presence on social media sites and networking with others in your field.  Leadership is showing other professionals that you know what you are talking about and presenting ideas to the masses.

Now I leave everyone with this thought.  Bitly and Diigo.  Signed up for a Bitly account.  Need to see how that one works.  Tweeters seem to use it a lot.  I see the same thing with Diigo.  Need to spend my afternoon reading on that one too.  I might just sit in the sun and read about this stuff on my tablet until the kiddies get home from school.

Cheers and enjoy the day.