Thing #18

Friends, Hashes, and Likes

     I, like many others, have been involved in Facebook and Twitter for quite a long time now.  I use Facebook for a friend site.  A place to see comments and pics that exceed the professional line created by the 140 character limit that sets twitter apart from other sites.  Using these sites should be a major part of an educator's resources.  

     These sites provide a constant flow of information that can be shared, re-shared, and re-re-shared.  Twitter allows people to retweet messages in a way of sharing the information as a cited comment that refers back to its original writer.  This is definitely a pretty cool concept that has been executed by the twitter community.

Hashes

     The hash system is a way of bookmarking and sorting information that is tagged under a certain topic.  Any one person can search a hashtag name and find posts that are in some way connected to the hash.  For example, if I was looking for a good laugh then I could search:

#Angrycat 

     or

#peopleofwalmart

     I do respect both of these sites for their creativity, and I do feel that it is a great way to communicate with others.  For teachers, this is a great way for sharing information, sites, and resources.  However, I would argue that this should remain a personal site for personal uses.  I have seen many bullying cases that have derived from such sites.  

     I recommend both of these sites for educators, but I do advise to proceed with caution.

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