Photo Credit: C. Seaman

Blog Post #6: Microsharing

Making Connections

Sharing bits of information (text, audio, video), known as microsharing, has emerged as the most powerful means for individuals to connect both professionally and personally. These bits of information are quick to transmit electronically and easily accessed. Thoughts are pitched and ideas are launched via microsharing. Through social communities such as Linked In and Twitter, relationships are made and dialogues initiated in the context of a connection.  Collaborative wisdom thru microsharing is here now and available on a global scale. Define your interests and get started today with Linked In and Twitter. In brief, this is how I came to use and value microsharing.

Getting Started

Linked In

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Recently I connected with my professional association, The American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA) http://www.adha.org. I chose this connection due to the stream of research, regulatory, and legislative updates that are posted that can affect and influence my career. I wanted to use this as a base to build a network of individuals who are associated with dentistry. It is important to build connections to share knowledge and product data.

 Additionally, I added a connection with an individual, Anne Guignon. Anne is a Registered Dental Hygienist and a thought leader in my profession who researches and speaks around the globe to dental hygiene professionals. She is also an adjunct faculty at the University of Texas School of Dentistry as well as a revered columnist/senior consulting editor at PennWell. Thru this individual I am informed of the most current research and trends in the profession. Her link is: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/anne-guignon/

Twitter

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Currently I am following 86 entities on Twitter. Some more passively than others. The first person I chose to follow on Twitter was Edudemic. Edudemic is not a person but a collaborative group (community) of like-minded individuals. This reminded me of a meta-analysis in research and I appreciate this level of evidence. They can be located on Twitter: @Edudemic. I selected this option because they were described as being a dedicated community of educators and technologists looking to enhance learning, which aligns with my own educational vision statement.

Who to Follow

 Who is Edudemic following? I found they were following another group called The Teaching Professor. Twitter address: @teachprof. When I looked at their profile and tweets I found that they were driven by presenting the best teaching strategies supported by the most current research. This vision resonated with me and aligned with my own, so I chose to follow The Teaching Professor also.

     Other individuals that Edudemic was following and I also selected to follow are:

• Curtis Chandler: educator, fun-expert, education specialist. Twitter address: @CurtisChandler6
• George Couros: innovative learning and teaching. . Twitter address:@gcouros
• Connie Malamed: professional explainer. Twitter address:@elearningcoach
• Vicki Davis: a teacher helping teachers. Twitter address: @coolcatteacher