The Social Networking Girl

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the approximately 80 glajillion social networking/social media applications out there these days and the amount of time it takes to be active in them.  Obviously I cannot actively participate in hundreds of networks - at least not with anything worthwhile, so I pick and choose and see what applications look helpful or interesting.  Sometimes I’ll try a new site or application because a friend recommends it, but not always. Sometimes I’ll read some tech blogs and see what they’re talking about and how they feel about something before I dive in.  I’ve found myself joining sites just so I can say “Yep, I have an account there, and yes I’ve tried it”, but what good is that doing? If you’re not actively participating in the site/network then how do you *really* know what the value is?

I tend to feel lately, that there’s so much of a rush to try the latest and greatest, up and coming “new thing” that it’s almost as though we’re stuck on the information super highway of social apps - speeding along, signing up for this thing and that thing without any real idea how it might help us. Just full speed ahead, packing more into every day, squeezing more “to-do” items into our lives.

As we were driving down the highway yesterday I started to think about how the internet really does feel like the “Information Super Highway” these days.  On long trips, I tend to be a person that avoids large highways even though I know they’re the fastest route from point A to point B.  I stress when traffic becomes heavy and claustrophobia sets in. I look for the nearest exit to get me to a small, quiet back road that will head in the same direction as the highway, but allow me time to see some scenery, some people, and smaller towns.  I can see how the people live in certain areas and get a feel of the community there.  The big highway doesn’t afford me that opportunity. I’m going as fast as is allowed, all in the desire to get to my destination as quickly as possible, but I’m missing all the good stuff along the way.

I’m starting to feel the same way about social networking. I am a geek, I love online communities, new gadgets, and the new shiny things that come our way on a daily basis.  That being said, none of those things matter if you never take the time to look around and see who’s living in your online communities.  If we continue burning gas, putting the pedal to the floor in the hopes that we’ll be the first to sign up and use every new thing that comes along, we’ll miss all the good stuff.

When I first joined my friend Syene’s BBS in my local town, my online community was all about the ‘local’ people.  We had picnics, we met together and played L.O.R.D. and got to know each other.  When the first internet provider showed up and we connected to the rest of the world, then the local community died down a bit for me because I was amazed at the idea of meeting people from all over the world.  I traveled all over the US, Canada and Europe meeting people in person that I’d met online and it truly changed my perspectives on many levels.  Now, interestingly, I find myself using my online communities to focus, once again, on my local community.  I’m certainly still keeping in touch with what people are doing outside my local area, but the most rewarding relationships I have these days are right here in my hometown.

It feels good to take the back roads again.

Read a fantastic post this morning about videoconferencing and virtual worlds - which is better for education? Seems virtual is. (surprise, surprise)

This blog post from Campus Technology talks about Sun’s Project Wonderland and the Media Grid. I was in Boston in January for a summit about the Media Grid and posted about that initiative at the time.  It’s a great project and certainly has some exciting potential for education in the coming years.

It’s certainly not time for everyone to abandon all other virtual worlds and run to Project Wonderland and the Media Grid, but it’s exciting to think about what changes lie in the future and how virtual worlds will really start to shape how we learn, interact, and build communities.  With Vivaty’s public beta, Google’s “Lively”, and the announcement that avatars were able to move from one virtual world (Second Life) into another (Open Sim), this is a crazy exciting week for people working with virtual worlds.  So glad to be part of it.

For those of you that don’t know, or haven’t picked up on it.. I’m an avid resident of Second Life and have been since 2004. I have designed several islands and my personal island, Mill Pond, has really become a central point for a lot of the new staff training I’ve been doing lately.  The nice thing about Mill Pond, especially for newer residents is that the community there is very welcoming.  There are almost always people there at the coffee shop and it’s a good spot to begin to feel comfortable interacting in a virtual environment.

Sometimes there are little stories that you hear from people you know about Mill Pond and it’s always great when that happens. Today, however, there was a story from a resident I’ve never met that ended up in my email that made me smile and feel all fuzzy inside:

Hi Micala just wanted to know that I find Open Latte (mill Pond) a great place…..I met my RL boyfriend there. People probably say this to you every day and I don’t know what importance this will have to you but in some crazy destiny’s way if you hadn’t built this place I wouldn’t have met him
It’s all the more nice since I live in Paris (he in England) and a few months ago he came there to visit me and I actually showed him the RL Shakespeare & Co bookshop and that was a really emotional moment
anyway thanks

Stories like this remind me just how powerful and life-changing social networking and online communities can be. Social networking changed my life and it makes me incredibly happy whenever I hear that it’s doing the same for other people.

Thank you for sharing, Estelle.

-Shannon
Micala Lumiere in SL

I’ve been hearing a lot of discussion lately about this “Edupunk” meme. I saw a fantastic post/link to a video today from Beth’s blog that linked to a video Tony Hirst did. It really resonates with all of the discussion we’ve had among the local PSU tech/ed people lately.

Check it out here.

To the person that emailed me just a few days ago re: vivaty. Please email again - I’m an idiot and accidentally deleted the email. You said you follow this blog so if you see this, email again please. I promise I won’t lose it this time.

Here in our office, we’re all about the fun.  One of my co-workers the other day, decided to play a practical joke on our supervisor by taking a small, fake Christmas tree and decorating it with photos she found online.  Those decorations consisted of alien heads, smiley faces, and numerous other delightful items.

This morning I arrived to find that same Christmas tree in *our* office, covered in small photos of the three of US.

I must say, it really doesn’t get much merrier than seeing yourself and your co-workers as tree decorations.

We have a whiteboard in our office and usually it’s full of doodles from kids that stop in with their parents, but today it’s full of some lovely springtime artwork done by a friend’s daughter:

It’s not a super sunny day outside today, but here in our office at World Campus we have some gorgeous daffodils to brighten things up!

This Saturday I’ll be attending the TLT Symposium here at Penn State.  I’ll be presenting a poster on social networking and community building for online students and I’m psyched about meeting so many Penn State colleagues that are doing amazing and interesting things. This isn’t a symposium, it’s a party!

For those of you that don’t know what etsy is, etsy.com is a website where people that handmake things can sell them (that’s the ‘nutshell’ version).  I started browsing etsy because a co-worker and friend (that actually works one floor DIRECTLY above me) showed me some jewelry she was buying there and I was terribly impressed with it.  Did I mention that I met this co-worker and friend on twitter and not at work? Now I did.

Etsy has things in what seems like a million different categories. After browsing around a bit, I ordered two things.  One ring from the same place she was getting her jewelry, and a messenger bag from a completely different person.  Almost as soon as I ordered the messenger bag, I got a message from the girl that makes them letting me know that she was so happy I ordered and that she had a few bags that were ordered before mine that she needed to finish, but that she’d have my bag done soon.  Over the next week or so, we sent messages back and forth about the progress.. she kept me up to date, told me when she started working on it, when it would be done and when to expect it in the mail. I thanked her for making my first etsy experience so great and she was fabulous. She was informative, appreciative and genuinely gracious.

I got the bag today:

If you’re wondering what my point is, I do have one.  This is social networking. This is not giant announcements or grand schemes. This is one person at a time, doing a good job, and being friendly and considerate.  It’s about Charlotte being nice and about me then telling everyone I know how great she is. It’s about being positive, and kind and knowing that ’social networking’ isn’t just about promoting your latest blog post, or telling people to go read something you wrote, or self-promotion.. it’s about an almost ‘grassroots’ way of spreading kindness.

If you want an exceptional handmade bag, then go to etsy and search for “Bizzie Lizzie”.

This is social networking.