I WATCHED NEVILLE HOBSON drop a question into one of his social media channels and I hope he continues the practise of crowd-sourcing content for the weekly FIR podcast.
Neville asked for feedback on Google Plus, the newest darling in social media space (see the screenshot). Within a few minutes, he had a few comments that he later used when in conversation with Shel Holtz, co-host of FIR. This was a well-executed result and one I hope to replicate with third level students on campus with creative multimedia producers.
The big advantage of throwing a thought into the social media slipstream is that you can immediately leverage the positive effects of transmedia. People who see the short form question as a text are likely to dial into the spoken result when it emerges as a podcast.
Synchronous virtual meetups are fun, mainly because they are so random. Since participants are online already, there's no need to run around and co-ordinate a time to meet. If you have Google Mail already, you can spot cross-talk as it causes a little red number to count upwards in the top right hand cover of your screen. It's not like having to figure out whether someone can take a Skype call or attempting to hook up via Facetime. You just toss a thought out on your public timeline and if someone responds, you might have a threaded conversation.
I set aside an hour every Monday evening for Twitter-based chatting with Irish educators (#edchatie) and now feel empowered to open a side channel on Google Plus to complement the Twitter chat with threaded comments that have a longer shelf life.
More: The Hobson and Holtz Report, Episode 606, July 4, 2011.
Jeff Jarvis -- "What Google+ Adds to the News"
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