That’s Why I Do It

So, folks survived the first day of school.  Around here, we had a steady all-day rain which certainly meant that a long day was even longer with inside breaks.  Yet, the day’s events didn’t stop people from getting home, online, and continuing the sharing.  There were quite a few discussions about getting colleagues on Twitter for all of the benefits that we know can fall from being connected.

Lots of buzz about PLN, social learning, being connected, not being connected – and then there was a good question.  How do we show that there are tangible benefits to being connected and not just being another voice in the wilderness?  I think that people who have been connected for a while know that the learning may take some time.  But it comes.

Then, there are the naysayers who make the comment “I don’t want to know what you had for breakfast”.  It’s funny how one bad experience or a one liner from a late night comedy host lingers.  But, we know that it’s much more serious than that.

Recently, Twitter enabled a feature that will definitely help the cause.  If you haven’t, log in to Twitter through the web and then check out Twitter analytics on your account.  There’s enough analytics there to choke the proverbial horse.  The opening screen will have you poking around wondering what an “impression” or an “engagement rate” is.  I’m still scratching my head over that one myself! 

Instead, take a look at the second choice – Followers.  Now, it gets immediately interesting.

Where in the world are they coming from?

(I think the MI is in the wrong place…)

What’s more telling is the interests that you share with your connections.

As I say in the title of this post – this is the real reason why I want to connect and stay connected.  The unique interests looks like this.

The top interests of those I connect with in general look like this.

It just begs the question – where can you have these types of conversations regularly and ongoing – on your terms, your own professional learning?  Like anything worthwhile doing, making the right connections makes it all worth while.

That’s a pretty difficult question to answer, methinks.