Earlier this week, my 6 year old daughter who is not inherently athletic informed me that she would like to join a soccer team in the fall. Knowing that this would be a bit interesting, I found a free soccer clinic for her to attend last night that would give her an idea of whether or not she would enjoy this new sport. Part of the clinic included a scrimmage with other kids, and as I watched, I noticed that she barely made contact with the ball. Instead, I saw her happily running from one end of the field to the other with the rest of the mass of children. After the clinic ended, I asked her what she thought of soccer and if she was still interested in being on a team in the fall. Her response: "Yes! That was fun!"
Okay, so how does this relate to Twitter? This week I was a bit like my daughter as a beginner on Twitter. I started the week running from one end of the Twitter "field" to another, not posting any original content but just watching others utilize this tool. By last night, I got a bit more into it and started to kick the ball in the forms of tweeting and retweeting. In fact, I went to bed thinking about other potential tweets. I am beginning to see how Twitter can be used as a learning tool because it helps us collect information and knowledge that are relevant to us. Twitter does the work of mining through a lot of the useless data on the internet that distracts us from real learning.
Who knows? I may become a Twitter fan and a soccer fan.
Sounds like you've made a great connection between Twitter and soccer. It has definitely been a bit like running from one end of the field to the other, with exploring Twitter and other technologies the last couple of weeks. Like you mentioned, Twitter does seem to help use collect information and knowledge that are relevant to us, and I'm excited to continue exploring how it works.
ReplyDeleteDo you find Twitter more useful for you personally, professionally, or both? I'm curious how other people are using Twitter to build their learning both in and out of work.
Thanks for your comments. I see Twitter as more of a professional tool with a bit of networking on common interests, and I see Facebook as primarily a personal tool. I wouldn't feel comfortable posting things about my kids on Twitter because I am following many people I don't know personally. I only add personal acquaintances on Facebook.
DeleteHi Wendy, I like how you give us a visual and then a comparison to relate it to. I felt the same way the first week with Twitter. I watched all the avid social media users set up lavish cover pages and profiles, wondering how they did it. Now I have dove into enough content and instructions that I understand the larger concepts and features.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying the content Twitter has to offer, with all the professional journals and information. I have found much information to go back to; I even bookmarked a few pages. I even noticed other’s emphasizing hashtags and how useful they are. You are definitely a committed Twitter fan if you are thinking about it past hours.
Ha ha! I don't think I'm a committed Twitter fan, I just ruminate over things in an attempt to post meaningful content. I mean, I care about what I eat for dinner, but I don't think my Twitter followers would.
DeleteHaving coached numerous soccer teams throughout the years I can honestly say your daughter is not the first to enjoy “playing” soccer. I enjoyed your post and how you tied it back to twitter. I have had the same feelings you have had this week with my first ever twitter experience. I do have to say I do not go to bed thinking about my next tweet. As I was setting up my twitter feeds I joined two sports teams’ feeds and let me be the first to tell you if you do that your twitter becomes overloaded with crap! Still plenty of work for me to do before I am utilizing twitter as a useful tool.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the warning about overloading Twitter feeds. I think this can help us be more mindful in our posts because we don't want to be "that guy."
DeleteYour comment about "playing" soccer made me laugh! I'm glad she's not the only one.