I will admit the fact that Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears have more followers on Twitter than there are people in Sweden is a little disturbing to me. It is amazing that so many people follow people on Twitter. This just goes to show that technology and social media have become so important to us, influencing the way we develop and learn. It is not surprising, of course, but some of the statistics were definitely not what I expected. However, it makes sense that if Facebook were a country, it would be the world's third largest. I even see how YouTube has become the second largest search engine on the web. The fact is growing technology and social media are the norms now. We don't have to search for the news, the news finds us. As an educator, being aware of the social media outlets will inevitably help you to teach your students. I recently took a class on Women in Rock & Roll, and the use of YouTube was imperative to learning what the professor was teaching. I personally believe having so many outlets for information is helpful for students and makes learning easier and more interesting for many of them. They, as well as most of us, already spend so much time on these sites that it only makes sense to use them as teaching tools.
I will add my Yodio, as soon as I figure out how to do it. :)
How are you disturbed with the volume of followers of Twitter (vs # of people in Sweden? _____
ReplyDeleteYour story of taking the class of Women in Rock and Roll is one I've already shared with a few friends. That is a very powerful example of the potential impact appropriate use of emerging technologies can have on teaching and learning. Thanks for sharing.
Hahahaha...I'm just not a big fan of them is all I meant. I have no doubt they have enough fans to support their Twitter accounts. I am not surprised they do, in fact, because Twitter is huge.
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