Social Networking or Self-Promotion

conversations about the future of teaching and learning

Barbara Bray

be creative, innovate, take risks, unlearn to learn

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Social Networking or Self-Promotion

By Barbara Bray November 27, 2007 -- 09:00 AM

How many of you post to your blog regularly? Do you put your blog on Technorati or have RSS? Are people commenting on your posts?

I read Steve Dembo�s post this morning Self-Promotion: Where do you draw the line? and it got me thinking. Why do many of the EdTech world blog?

Since funding cycles have changed, the educational technology world is struggling. There is not as much money going around for many of the same people. So Web 2.0 tools (most free) give you an opportunity to publish, share, give your opinions, comment on others, link to and from, and even embed in your blog. Because the power of these tools is to connect and link, you can tell the same story (like I am) over and over and over....

Yet put on your twist to it. Your twist is what you hope will draw people to your site. I wonder if the number of hits matters. When I saw that my ClustrMap was stripped of its hits (each year they start over), I was really upset. Wait a minute! I had so many hits from all over the world. Where did they go? Is that why I write? mmmmmm.....

I write because I like to. If people comment, that�s great. It�s okay if they don�t. I hope they like what I write but that�s not why I do that. I write a regular column for OnCUE on professional development and never know if anyone reads it unless someone emails me directly. The power of blogging is anyone can comment. With capcha and filtering technology, you hope you can keep out the predators and have just the people you like write a post. However, everyone may not agree with you and may add a negative post.

So back to self-promotion - with the way education is going - teachers, administrators, all of us are in a different world where accountability matters. You can use eCoach or Web 2.0 tools to showcase what you do best. Share best practices, stories, student work - what worked and why. This helps everyone and you. You never know what will happen to your job down the road. Why not showcase what is working for you?

I plan to showcase people in our eCoach community. I�m not in the classroom and believe that teaching is very difficult now. We need to celebrate any successes - share with each other what works - even be brave and share what didn�t work and what you would do different next time. It is scary to take risks and put yourself out there. We should be celebrating each of us who goes that next step and shares "take a look at this and see if it could help you!"

Categories: "Blogs, Podcasts, Rss" "Collaboration" "Community" "Reflection" "Web 2.0"