We’ve all seen it: the embarrassing gaffe on social media. In the past, only a few people, or a few hundred, would know you screwed up; now people around the world could see and comment.
Should that stop you from being on social media??
NO!
Should the time required to find great accounts to follow stop you?
NO!
Should the effort involved in creating good, interesting, useful content for your community stop you?
NO!
I am seriously thinking of unplugging from social media lately. Waaayyy too many crazy, unfounded claims and bits of information, most connected to politics. Such a need for drama it seems; has society become addicted to drama? As a librarian, I feel a need to set the record straight when I see these, but I also know that engaging with such Facebook posts will only cause me to receive more! What to do?
This is such a problem that the World Economic Forum declared the online spread of misinformation to be a form of “digital wildfire,” and one of the main threats to global society. As librarians we understand the power of information, but it rises to a new level for me as I read about a team of researchers who have conducted a five-year-long study on a wide range of Facebook users in a quest to find out how misinformation blossoms online. If echo chambers, trolling pages and confirmation bias appeal to you, please read the following results from the study.
Wondering how to check outrageous claims to see if they are true? See our earlier blog post: Do You Really Know the Truth? Snopes Field Guide.
Image credit: https://unsplash.com/ (Irene Dávila), licensed under CC0 1.0
A Pew Report from April 9th, 2015 details how teens are using social media and technology. Facebook still remains the most popular social network with Instagram and Snapchat second and third. 92% of teens report going online daily, with 24% of teens going online “almost constantly.” Like most Pew reports, there’s a lot of data and text to read and interpret. Pressed for time? Check out the summary.
Read the full report, click here.
Did you know? CMLE has a Facebook account! We think Facebook is a great way to connect informally with one another and easily share ideas…..no messy process like you might encounter when trying to comment on blogs. So, it’s easy — no muss, no fuss!
Can’t use Facebook at work? No problem….we would bet you may be using Facebook while away from your work setting! Check out what CMLE has been up to, and provide comments and feedback, all while cruising casually through Facebook. What’s easier than that?
If you work at a library or media center in CMLE’s 12-county region (Aitkin, Benton, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine, Sherburne, Stearns, Todd, and Wright), please “Like” our page to see what your colleagues are doing.
So, visit CMLE’s Facebook page today and click the “Like” button!
Do you consider yourself to be a history buff? Would SixDegrees, Friendster and MySpace come to mind when you think about social media? In Trivial Pursuit, the 20th Anniversary Edition, it would probably fall under the category for “Innovations.”
Take a moment and breeze through Matt Smith’s quick history lesson about start-ups that built the foundation to what we refer to today as “social media.” In his article, October 2013, Smith gives a nod to early innovations such as the BBS (Bulletin Board System) and IRC (Internet Relay Chat.) These technologies predated the World Wide Web in the mid-90’s; opening a market for other platforms which ultimately bolstering sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest. Smith predicts, “While Facebook is king, there’s still room for niche alternatives, particularly those that emphasis images or video rather than an infinitely updating news feed.” Click here to read the full article, Social Media: Did it really start with Facebook? [Geek History Lesson], MakeUseof.
Tip: CMLE often highlights ways teacher librarians can incorporate forms of social media into classroom and instructional processes. Here are two additional free resources for you to consider;