YouTube and more Twitter

The adventure into web 2.0 continues this week with YouTube! I love YouTube and offspring: Teacher Tube and You Tube Kids. I've used them all in the classroom and library and of course, I watch youtube at home for fun all the time.

This week we were tasked with creating playlists of videos on specific topics. I hadn't made a playlist on YouTube in quite a while. I usually just search and watch. I don't normally have a need to save videos. I can usually find what I want when I search the terms over again. It took me a minute to remember how to create a new playlist and save videos to it.

I created five new playlists,  a Twitter and Twitter Tools list, a playlist for Wikispaces, a Web 2.0 playlist, a library playlist, and a Technology for School list.  Each list contains videos that I think might be useful in some part of my life.

I found one Twitter tools video particularly helpful as it covered seven tools in under seven minutes. The presenter covered hashtags.org, ping.FM, HootSuite, tweet later, twollo, twitter local, and tweet deck. He explained that HootSuite links to ping for free and that it shows statistics, and allows you to send tweets at a later time. Tweet Later also connects to Ping, but for a fee. It does automatically send out thank you notes to all followers. Another neat feature is that it automatically follows people who follow you and unfollows people who unfollow you.  Twitter local is a way to find local tweets in case you want to know what is going on in an area near you.  Tweet Deck is an adobe product that has the ability to show all the main social media platforms in one easy place.

I found a smattering of other videos that I saved among the other playlists. I added some excellent videos to my library playlist that talk about technology in the library and the 21st-century learner.

Most of what I found on the web 2.0 tools and Wikispaces were college presentations that regurgitated the same information over and over again.

Twitter Adventure Revisited

I've realized over the past week that Twitter is an incredible source of information. I just spent 45 minutes chasing #MakerED and #MakerSpace rabbits down the Twitter hole. I found some great articles, quotes, and pictures. I'm excited about the future and the ideas that are swirling in my head. Now I know where to go for more inspiration and information. Who knew Twitter was a resource and not just a social media platform!?!