Social media and me

So this blogging is supposedly about reflective practice in research.  I suppose I am doing that already by using a research diary to record developments, plans, actions and feedback, so I am not sure how this will be different.  Perhaps it will be more focused?  But maybe less honest because of the sharing?

I think I’ll treat it as an experiment…just to see how it feels to create a public blog.  The guidelines suggest that today we should write something about experiences with social media and expectations of 23Things for Research.

Well, experience with Facebook over the last few years does not seem to make it a useful research tool.  I get occasional updates from societies and museums which are relevant, but most newsfeeds are from friends and family.  Twitter though – that has surprised me.  I’ve only been experimenting for the last month but I am following a range of libraries, museums and organisations and it has already been surprisingly helpful. In fact, that is why I am here now.  Someone retweeted about this online programme and I would never have heard about it otherwise.  I like the brevity and the to-the-point-edness of Twitter, compared to the (sometimes) ramblings on Facebook.  And there are no distractions of photos and images, other than by choosing to access them.

Linkedin has a different feel to it.  Much more networky and work-focused.  I've found it useful in making contact with people, rather than an information-sharing provision.

If I’m honest, I am not sure yet how blogging is going to help me with research.  At the moment I’ll use it just to record how I’m getting on with 23Things and see how it develops from there...