It has been so long since my last blog that I had forgotten the web address. But since I'm in the middle of planning a Writing the Message Online module for Hallam Uni, I thought it best to practise what I will be preaching and get on the blogger.
The thing that overwhelms me about social media is the huge variety that now exists, and choosing which medium to use. My Facebook account is an amalgamation of friends, family, colleagues, Film Northants contacts, media organisations, research links etc. and I still only have less than 40 friends, due to my rule of 'if I see you regularly I don't need to be your friend on Facebook'. Then there are the other Facebook groups I administer for Film Northants, FREED UK and IAIP. And people from those groups want to be friends on my profile, and some I accept and some I don't, on an ad hoc, depends-on-my-mood-that day, basis. Suffice to say I wish I could have a professional and a personal Facebook page but since the often two overlap it is not really practical, and would just be yet another account to check each day.
Then there is Twitter which I use very sporadically but mostly for academic purposes, because everything else is now duplicated on Facebook. If Twitter does it well then Facebook will soon pinch the idea and do it better.
Then there is this blog, which I will have to go and post on Facebook, my website, and Twitter, and lets not even go down the road of Tumblr, You Tube, LinkedIn, Flickr and all the other alternatives. Information and communication overload surely must reach a ceiling point sometime?
The problem is I have not found one social media that ticks all the boxes. They are all good for different things, but none of them are great for everything. Facebook is getting there but it's still not perfect and the encroaching commercialism is increasingly irritating. In fact I'm also thinking of defecting to WordPress as I find Blogger cumbersome but then WordPress seems more like a website and I already have one of those.
And then comes the question what exactly do I teach new journalism students? In a rapidly moving online world, which is in all honesty based on trial and error, where do you start? My tactic at the moment is to start with the familiar and explore Facebook as a journalism tool not just a personal space, and take it from there...
And then comes the next question, how does anyone have the time to do all this communicating, researching and investigating online? If I had an iPhone 4 I know I would never get anything done as I would be constantly posting pictures, geotagging and blogging - a bit like I am now but with even more banality - plus photos.
For me 2011 is probably going to be my busiest year yet. 17 hours teaching for the first semester, the fourth Film Northants festival to organise and run, publicity and planning for Ghanaian charity FREED UK, freelance work for Sustrans Connect 2 and IAIP, designing a website for a client, and the small matter of finishing my PhD. All I can say is bring it on!
Now I must go and tweet/post multiple links and stop distracting myself from lesson planning. (Whilst writing this blog I have had a chat with a friend on Facebook about proof reading their book review, checked my email for teaching messages, watched the most excellent funny shorts 'Acting with James Franco' on YouTube and read a blog on teaching social media).
