So, not to too my own horn (I don’t actually own a horn – that I know of), I’ve been using the Internet for quite some time. I was first introduced to it back in 1994 when being the computer nerd I was – someone showed me how to use IRC (Internet relay chat). I was instantly addicted and never looked back. I was able to talk to people about topics (not always good ones) from all over the world, instead of just annoying my family or friends. Back then the internet was just a confusing melange of buzz words and animated gifs of frogs telling you to send an email (Bill Gates actually said the internet was just a passing fad at one point). Today’s internet is so much different.
I use the internet and social media for much more than I ever envisioned (aging myself) 19 years ago. I’d say I spend a good portion of my day on Facebook. I subscribe to a few news agencies I trust (nothing american) and ingest all the nonsensical posts and images that my subscriptions and friends decide the rest of world need to see. I can’t say I’ve ever really been a big fan of Twitter. I do have a twitter account but for some reason I just couldn’t get into it. I suppose it may have to do with the fact when it first came out people would post to twitter and link that same post to Facebook… So in my head I didn’t want to see the same things twice. However, when something major happens I will search on twitter – as I find it a great tool for very up-to-the-minute reactions and images that you may not have made it to the news outlets yet.
Professionally, I do help manage our organization Facebook and twitter account. My boss mostly handles the twitter side of things and I handle the Facebook side. We also have a forum using vbulletin which enables discussion on various topics relating to the organization.
So, I guess in summary I stick to Facebook mostly for all my social media needs. When it comes to news I will usually just go to their websites and see what top stories are posted or if anything stands out as interesting. I’ll use YouTube to catch up on sports highlights as well. Most of the time when a major news story happens I’ll find out from the mass amount of posts on Facebook anyways.
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 