Learning Through Microblogging
For this week’s assignment we discussed the benefits of microblogging
What Is Microblogging
Microblogging is a short post on a social media site (American College of Education, 2022a). Expanded, it is a collection of short posts by various people on the various social media sites. Instead of a full post, an author can share snippits of a much longer post, or comment on salient points. The goal is to get information without the burden of a long post. Think of the idea of an annoucement to get the point across quickly to others (American College of Education, 2022a).
X, formally Twitter, was the most popular version of microblogging. Unfortunatally, with the selling of Twitter, changes happened that changes the way to consume content. The chronological timeline has been replaced with a more curated feed that prioritizes engagement instead of time.
Watch Out
Platforms change. Remember MySpace? Facebook has been relegated to the Millenials. Now everyone is on TikTok and Instagram. Surely, this will change again. Hashtags are still popular, but I have not seen them as pronouced as in the past. Hashtags were searchable phrases that were created for a specific event (American College of Education, 2022b). Since the Twitter algorithm change, anecedotally, just searching for a topic has yielded better results.
Engagement
We all want engagement. We all want our posts to be seen by everyone because whatever we type is profound. To get the best engagement, you must engage with others. Unfortunately, engagement has taken a negative spin, by those gaming the system. Clickbait titles such “You won’t believe what happens next,” or highly political conversations usually push through the good content due to their high engagement.
Find people you want to follow that do not participate in this type of engagement. These people do exist.
Be Careful
Social media sites are public. No matter how you adjust your privacy settings, there is always a chance your posts will be made public or given to law enforcement. Practice posting after work hours, and appropriate content that your boss would not reprimand you for. You are not as private as you think.
References
American College of Education. (2022a). TECH6363 Technology use in educational environments: Module 6 [Part 1 presentation]. Canvas.
American College of Education. (2022b). TECH6363 Technology use in educational environments: Module 6 [Part 2 presentation]. Canvas.
Haim Cohen
CS Teacher, Podcaster, Organizer of Cryptovillage, and Chairman of Highland Park NJ Public Information Committee.