Day 4

I just reading the article, What Your Favorite Social Network Says About You. I can't say that I was surprised by anything that I read. I agree that the Facebook statistics will average out in the various categories because so many people are Facebook users. It's a wide range of ages too. Both of my parents and my grandma actively use Facebook. My grandma is much more Facebook proficient than my mom is! I expect that my younger sister will be joining the Facebook world soon also. I still remember when it was only a site for college students and you had to have a school email address to get a Facebook account. Now anyone and everyone can get a Facebook account - you can even set one up for your cat! (While this is true I am rolling my eyes as I'm typing it)

I don't think it's fair to say that the traits called out in the article as being specific to the various social networking sites are true of all users of those sites. But perhaps there is something about people with certain traits that helps them to find certain social networks more attractive than others. I have a Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn account. I used to have a MySpace account but found that it was too easily spammed and hacked. I don't use my Twitter or LinkedIn accounts anywhere near as much as my Facebook account. I have the Facebook app on my phone so I guess you could say I'm connected at all times and I do check in several times a day to see what's new in the Facebook world. I am also one of the people mentioned in the article that only friends people that I've met face to face and know outside of the online world. My entire family (except for my mom and sister) live in California. Two of my sisters-in-law also live out of state. So, for me, Facebook is a great way to stay connected with family through updates and pictures. I know that they will see my status posts and have an idea of how I am doing and vice versa. This doesn't mean that it's my only connection with them. I talk to them on the phone about once a week as well but it's nice to have the reminders of them in between phone calls. I've never really decided how I would use Twitter as a tweeter but I do subscribe to several tweets and enjoy reading about local events and goings-on in Corvallis. LinkedIn is absolutely more of a business networking site and my linked in account pertains specifically to my employment history and work connections.

Here is link to an interesting video of Sam Gosling talking about Facebook and what purpose it serves: http://youtu.be/tVuoNAeTpUU. To me, it ties back in with the idea of branding. Whether we realize it or not we each have a personal brand. The way that we dress, act, talk and interact with others all comes together to create our personal brand. This isn't necessarily something that we think about all the time (or at all in some cases) but it is something important to consider. Personally, as a licensed teacher I feel a responsibility to brand myself in a way that is appropriate for a teacher. I want to represent myself as an excellent role model for children and so everything that I do whether it be in person or online should represent my personal brand.