Thing 12 - social media

I think that social media sites have a place in education, but students need to understand the difference between them and other news and information resources. If students are educated on the many different sources available on the web or through other media, they can make better decisions regarding what sources to use for different purposes.

While browsing the social media sites, I felt that they tended to have more stories about interesting topics that weren't necessarily news worthy. As a librarian, I also wondered about their reliability. From this perspective, I felt that these tools could be productivity detractors - who hasn't clicked into an interesting sounding story, dug a bit further only to realize 20 minutes later that the particular story was not the reason for going online in the first place? This scenario is why I believe it is important to educate students about social media sites so that they can make informed decisions on whether or not to pursue a topic online, thereby enhancing their productivity.

For me, I am much more likely to look for news on BBC World (I think this site gives more well rounded news coverage) or one of the other major news outlets. While the social media sites are interesting, I don't feel that I have the time to spend on them.