Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Response to Five Tips for Smarter Social Networking

While reading the article, "Response to Five Tips for Smarter Social Networking," I was immediately battling some serious internal conflict.  I mean, truly, what does it mean to be a social networking member and a friendly neighbor?  The article explains that people should be willing to be somewhat transparent, meshing their personal lives with their professional ones, an opportunity to "break down the walls."

The problem, however, is that those walls are necessary but to what extent?  I just had a conversation with a colleague and we were discussing the tendency of perception skewing and even misinterpreting any blog's intentions.  As a current English teacher and an ex-journalism teacher of 9 years, my stomach flip-flops when I think about all the news articles that had the best intentions, but ended with the worst results.  That's my fear with blogs, but what's worse is it's about me regardless of how personal or impersonal it is.

At the same time I recognize the important of building trust and letting people in a little bit at a time.  I mean, jeeze, that's what we do with our students. But what's more important is finding that balance and in order to find balance, you've got to take risks.  It's quite a conundrum and I'm just in the beginning phases of figuring out, which explains why I didn't ever blog until Josh (@josh_allen, my instructor, forced me to.  :)

2 comments:

  1. I think it's interesting that you and I "force" kids to write all the time. This serious internal conflict we feel as new bloggers is probably similar to what our kids feel when we ask them to share their writing with class, the school or the world. I guess I'll be a little less forceful and a little more encouraging in the upcoming weeks as a result of reading your blog. Thanks for reminding me to be empathetic. :)

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  2. It's interesting, isn't it? I didn't even consider the fact that I ask students to "publish" themselves everyday in class and I'm having a hard time doing it myself. It's not that I don't want to, necessarily; it's more a matter of being afraid, which is exactly why the kids are hestitant within the walls of my classroom. Their audience, however, can be a lot more critical. Great observation, Sarah. I owe you a "thanks" for opening my eyes a bit. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, eh?

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