Grandma in Social Media: Chapter 2

Image by: BunnyRonin

We left Grandma on the web exploring the various webpages on social media, and with resolve she discovered one that explained the definition of social media in a clear manner. With this knowledge Grandma was certain she could navigate her way to her family until again something changed, and she was staring at the unfamiliar landscape.

Uncertain and afraid Grandma began to click  “Its no use, I will never find my way to my family” Grandma mutters to herself. “What is wrong with me? I know how to look things up, to use a keyboard and read” She began to read the words on the screen before her to prove her abilities. But the words made no sense as she read them “social media, social network, social networking, social bookmarking, social platform”. Grandma began to weep. Suddenly a tiny magnifying glass at the top of the page caught her eye. She typed in the “what is social networking?”

Grandma clicked on the headline below and began reading. The strange feeling came over her once again. She began to understand. Then Grandma forget the key to searching on the web, she clicked and was pulled away from the site she was on, much like Alice who forgot the key after shrinking again. Grandma began to rant and rave at her error and was about to give up when she saw a left pointing arrow at the top of the page. She hovered over the arrow and read “Click to go back.”. Grandma clicked. The page she was reading returned. With renewed sense of hope grandma clicked the arrow again and found herself back at her beginning search.

With some apprehension Grandma begins typing in another phrase, “what is social platform ?”,  then “ what is the difference between websites and apps ?” and finally “difference between social networking and social media ?”. Before she realized two hours had passed by, but the magnifying glass promised more information, and understanding like: social book marking, blogs, microblogs, blogs, media sharing, chats, social news. Grandma hesitated a moment then started to type, following the tiny magnifying glass through the pool of platforms or as Grandma now understood, the pool of tools of social media.

What will happen to Grandma as she wades into the web?

Are you fan of Alice in Wonderland? Can you make the connection Alice in Wonderland and Social Media? DO you struggle as this author does understanding the ever changing social media landscape?

You will need to read Chapter 3. The Caucus Race and a Long Tale.

Facebook post: A charming retelling of the classic Alice in Wonderland with a twist. Read the story of Grandma on Social media. grandma-in-social-media-chapter-2 #learningsocialmedia #storytelling

Twitter post: Understanding Social Media through story. http://grandma-in-social-media-chapter-2 #socialmedia #aliceinwonderland #storytelling

Grandma in Social Media

Image by Leo Boudreau via Flickr

Grandma in Social Media

            My experience or lack there of in social media reads like the beloved children’s novel “Alice in Wonderland”. For those of you who are not familiar with the century old tale written by Lewis Carroll, it pertains to a young girl following a white rabbit down a hole. She has grand adventures and meets many a strange creature along the way.

Chapter 1:

The journey begins for Grandma, not in an English meadow and a chance encounter with an unusual white rabbit, but in chair in small lakeside room and the creature is not soft and white, rather a hard, black, rectangular box. Like Alice curiosity gets the better of me and I pursue my rabbit into the preverbal hole. The chase through the tunnel seems lengthy. Then I seem to stop falling, it was like I was frozen. I waited and waited, finally things began to move in front of me again. The darkness of the tunnel was chased away by vibrant colours and then unusual things started appearing out of nowhere. Although it was all very exciting, I couldn’t help but think how unusual this place was. Suddenly there was a steady stream of white light, then a strange tiny figure appeared creature appeared beside a word. I forced myself to stare straight at the glaring light and I could make out the word “Google “. The tiny figure beside was a cartoon depiction of an Astronaut. “How odd” I proclaimed.  If only my friends and family could see me now. Falling through the great tunnel called the internet. How proud they would be.

The bottom materialized, or in this case the Google search page materialized. Now what? I decided to continue following the rabbit. So, I typed “what is social media?”. This led me to a space with many choices and I looked at each one, but they didn’t seem to match, much like Alice’s room of locked doors. How frustrating I thought to myself.  How would I figure out which one to choose? I tried one and it didn’t open, paged expired. I returned to the original space and tried again. “Oh my” this flooded my screen with ads and nonsense. I returned to the original space. Frustrated and overwhelmed I shrank down in my chair and begin to weep.  Tears roll down my cheeks as I attempted to find a way to understand.  Let me try this again. Scroll up. Oh no! where did it go? What’s happening? The letters are huge? What did I do? “There is no sense in crying” I told myself. Try again. Perhaps the magnification scale on the bottom right corner of the page will fix my error. Oh no! Now it’s too small I will never be able to read and understand. I took to the keyboard and began to maneuver around the screen. I clicked on something. “Well done” I praised myself. I had returned the screen to a readable size. With a slight sigh I began to scan over the information again.

Then a headline, like Alice’s golden key. appears. I clicked and an explanation in plain language unveiled before me, A curious feeling came over me as I read, could it be so simple as that?

The feeling wouldn’t go away as I read through the text. No, it wasn’t that easy. There was “platforms, engagement, hashtag, likes and followers” just to name a few. Absolutely a strange and frustrating place. Whatever was I to do? I was there all alone. Will no one help me?

Stay tuned for Chapter 2, The Pool of Platforms