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Susan Banister

After the success of the audio recording I did with @chrisrat (thanks CallBurner!), it seems obvious that talking to as many people as possible about their prvate/personal use of Twitter and other social media is going to be really productive.

So here’s the next in a growing series – @susanbanister who works for Channel 4 Learning.

Her company is at the beginning of its journey into social media and Susan has some fascinating insights to share in Part 2:

Music: Kevin MacLeod Can’t use this flash audio player? Here’s a link to download the mp3 – http://drop.io/kmaudio/asset/susanbanister-musicl-mp3

Look out for part 3 – I might come and ask you to take part. If you’d like to be interviewed, please add a comment below or contact me on Twitter – @kevinmulryne

Do you put all your tweets in one basket?

Yesterday I listened to the latest episode of the fantastic Explicit Web podcast. If you are interested in web design, you really ought to subscribe – it’s hosted by 3 engaging designers who choose some very varied and interesting topics to discuss. (Warning – they occasionally swear when they are excited/annoyed.) One of this week’s topics was particularly relevant to something I have been thinking about recently and something I am researching for the National College – how companies and organisations use Twitter.

How do companies and organisations use Twitter?

The guy on the podcast (sorry I can’t remember his name) identifies two ways of using Twitter. Actually I think there are more than this and it’s impossible to categorise all use into definite categories but here’s basically what he was saying:

1. Twitter for updates – no human element, no direct interaction
2. Twitter for conversation – human contact and intentional, personal interaction

He likened type 1 to an RSS feed. In fact, he bemoaned the fact that he often receives the same information via RSS and Twitter so ends up unfollowing the offending Twitter account. Is this a problem? If you work for an organisation (any kind) or business, do you split up your Tweets into a ‘news’ Twitter feed and a ‘personal’ Twitter feed? Do you use your personal account for business tweets or do you/can you keep them separate? I think it’s more likely that there is a third way.  I think personal tweets will always blur into work and vice-versa as this is the way humans interact and it’s the way I think Twitter encourages. Continue Reading

I’m at the BETT Show in London this week and something strange has happened to me. I’ve started acting out of character. I tend to be quite a shy person, prefering to watch from the sidelines rather than get involved with people but my use of Twitter at the show this year has been transformational.

THE FAMOUS WI-FI T-SHIRT

Even before I arrived at BETT, @ProperCoffee, @phillhowson, @architela and @peter_s_clarke had convinced me to wear my geek Wi-Fi T-shirt in my breaks from stand duty. I think without their encouragement I probably wouldn’t have bothered. So here’s the proof:

Wi-Fi T-shirt

Transformational? Well if you know me, you’d probably agree this is a bit of a departure. It’s a bit of fun but not the kind of fun I usually take part in…

So, spurred on by my new-found confidence, I started to take part in #BETTtig on Twitter. This meant I got to meet both @dughall and @deerwood who both turned up at the National College stand at the same time. I BETTtigged @deerwood and so the game continued.

TEDx AND THE ‘I CAN’ BUG

After a torrent of tweeting during the day, I decided to see if I could get into the TEDx Orenda event, despite not having a ticket – again, this is out of character for me! It turned out to be very straightforward to get into and I settled down with the trusty mobile to check the tweets via the official tag #TEDx.

An inspirational video from Kiran Bir Sethi set the tone for the evening as we heard the story of how Indian children have been empowered through what she calls the ‘I can’ bug. In this spirit, I sought out various Twitter contacts including @DawnHallybone, @TerryFreedman and someone I have wanted to meet for a very long time, @Alfie, who was one of the presenters. It was a fantastic event with a wide variety of quality speakers.

@Alfie at TEDx

I could have sloped away after the event and in previous years I think I would have done but the momentum built up by my Twitter activities  and TEDx led me to introduce myself to people who were, without exception, warm, friendly and keen to talk.

TWITTER AT BETT – GET INVOLVED!

So, without wishing to labour the point, I have had an incredible first day at BETT this year and it was all thanks to Twitter and the fantastic folk in my Personal Learning Network. What will day 2 bring? See you on Twitter… #BETT2010

Wallwisher

I need to introduce someone to the world of UK education soon so I was trying to think of all the relevant education organisations she will need to investigate to get a good idea of the ‘domain’.

This, I found, is not an easy task. There are many important bodies both within and beyond the government sphere. I was sure to miss lots out. So I turned to my personal learning network.

Continue Reading