Social Media Tools

First, let's get a simple understanding of what social media tools are.  Simply put, they are an Internet based way of sharing and discussing information with people, near and far. There are several types of social media tools available for a variety of functions.  For school, I'm using Wiki and Blogger constantly.  I actually enjoy blogging!  I see it as an outlet for creative writing, while at the same time sharing your views about something, supported with credible sources.  Over the last few days, I have been experimenting with new social media tools.  Well, they're not actually new, but they're new to me because I never use them.  My first experiment began with Podcast.  The Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) describes a podcast as a digital audio file that is available to download on a computer or other device for listening (n.d.).  When I clicked on the link, there were a variety of tabs that you could choose from.  Being an EMT, and a budding fitness nut, a "health" tab peaked my interest.  More specifically, there was a podcast about yoga.  Two years ago, a friend of mine talked me into going to a "hot" yoga class.  Hot yoga is yoga that is held in a room that is heated to roughly 100 degrees and has high humidity.  This was also my first experience with yoga.  Needless to say, I never returned.  However, my curiosity about yoga didn't fade.  Now fast forward, here's this podcast about yoga, rachelnelsonyoga.podbean.com.  I actually changed my clothes and dived right in.  This was not a good idea for a novice yoga enthusiast!  Somehow I got distracted, and missed the part where Rachel says get on the floor.  So now I'm standing up trying to do moves that I can't began to replicate because I can't see her, and I'm not on the floor!  Future Podcast users, if you are a visual person with the slightest attention issues, this will not work for you!  

My second experiment was with widget.  I see widgets everywhere, my phone, Facebook, my tablet, it's on everything.  Even with all this, I still didn't really know what it was.  A widget is a stand-alone application that can be embedded into third party sites by any user on a page where they have rights of authorship, e.g. a webpage, blog, or profile on a social media site (Wikipedia, 2013).  This definition didn't really didn't help me too much, so I decided to do some experimenting on my own.  Once I accessed the widget link, I decided to play with Photo Snack.  It's an application that allows you to group pictures so that they tell a story.  Once you're done, you can embed the link almost anywhere so that others can share your experiences. 

 Here is what I created, http://www.photosnack.com/966EB67D75E/ptuj4kuc.  Creating this was actually fun.  The scary part was trying to decide where to embed this work of art.  Since I didn't want my pictures floating around in cyberspace, or hoovering around in the ever so elusive "cloud," I decided to embed them on my Google+ page, and on my Facebook page.  What I realized is that people can experience my journeys as well as get information about Photo Snack.  They can even create their own works of art!  Since I really enjoyed Photo Snack, I also visited photo sharing sites.  I chose Google+ because I already have a profile.  I wasn't really into posting lots of pictures, until I noticed people telling amazing stories through their pictures.  Here is a story about a Sunday afternoon with my girls, 

https://plus.google.com/113523137544633007325/posts.  If given the choice, when it comes to picture sharing, I prefer Photo Snack.  The editing options are so fun!  You can incorporate sound, change themes, share with friends, and embed on other sites.   You are only limited by your own creativity.

With all this experimentation, it's tough to decide which tool is the best method to disseminate information.   I guess it depends on what message you're trying to disseminate.  If you're anything like me, certain tools won't work for you because the message gets lost in the mode of transmission...podcast!  

References

Department of Health & Human Services (n.d.). New media tools. Retrieved from website

http://aids.gov/using-new-media/tools/index.html#tool-bookmarkingNew

Wikipedia (2013, September). Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from website

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_widget

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