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"After the social networking sand settled with Facebook on top over the last half decade, the social behemoth seemed untouchable. Twitter, far behind in second place, wasn't a direct competitor for a while, since it focused on public conversation and Facebook mostly targeted private, friends-only conversations. Google+ entered the picture and managed to shake things up a bit, making both networks question their own identities, adding new features left and right to try to be everything to everyone. Here we are, at the Social Network Identity Crisis of 2012, and it isn't pretty."

"Matthew Brink, Career Services Center director, said he stresses to students the importance of networking with professionals and potential employers before they graduate. "Stick to a very steady dose of networking," Brink said. "Get in touch with a very high quality contact who can open doors and can introduce you to other folks and their network that can lead you to opportunities.""

Unfortunately, this advice comes in as students are actually graduating...

The Internet connects us in unprecedented ways. To prepare students to flourish in this new learning world, schools will need to transform themselves in important ways. This book is a road map for any educator thinking about using the web for learning. Build your own learning network, and use learning networks in the classroom and schoolwide to improve student outcomes.

One of the books I was talking about.

I just received this e-mail regarding this social media network.

"The idea of social business is to apply social software to improve and accelerate how work gets done on the inside of the firewall. Whereas social branding -- blogs, wikis, bookmarks, videos, message boards, Facebook, Twitter, and similar tools -- is increasingly being used by companies to communicate with the external world, what's often missing is the application of those same tools and techniques to create an open, supportive culture internally."

It's hard to use the Internet anymore without being watched. Tracking cookies follow your every move, so advertisers can figure out what to sell you. Social networks keep you constantly signed in, in part so they can see what other websites you visit. Phone and tablet apps may be gathering information about you, including your contacts list or your camera roll.

"How many real connections do Twitter users have? Not just silent following, not retweeting, not a stray @ message to someone, but a real back-and-forth conversation. How many people can you maintain that kind of contact with online before you get overwhelmed? The answer, on average, was roughly 150."

 I am constantly advocating for other school leaders and educators to embrace this powerful tool to improve communications, enhance public relations, establish a positive brand presence, grow professionally through the formation of a Personal Learning Network (PLN), increase student engagement, and discover a world of opportunity.

" Today's "Hot Topics Wednesdays" episode is devoted to Pinterest. We have already talked about this social network (see below) that allows you to visually organize anything by pinning images on various boards. Now, how can you use this popular tool in your classroom?"

Great ideas! I see a lot of possibilities...with others courses, not mine :(

"And as the number of social networking sites grows, so does the number of services that are created to measure, track and monitor those services. What's a marketing professional to do? To help you cut through the clutter, here are the 10 must-use social media tools that can not only help you make sense of your social media efforts but make them more effective."

"They are essential skills that are needed to operate in the world and in the workplace," she said. "And people will either need to learn through formal training or through their networks or they will feel increasingly left out."

"No matter how much quality information or witty repartee we send out into our social networks, first impressions are almost always visual. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that the first thing we see when checking out a new Twitter follower, Facebook friend, or LinkedIn connection is a profile photo. And in a world of quick clicks and divergent attention, if the photo you present isn't eye-catching, or illustrative of your personal brand, you may miss your shot at making a positive first impression."

F acebook's imminent IPO should put to rest claims that social networking is a short-lived fad. Experts say sites like Pinterest, Twitter and Tumblr, Google+ and Svpply, Instagram and Spotify are reshaping shopping and turning old methods of customer engagement upside down.

To help readers find new books, Goodreads works with an algorithm much like Facebook's news feed. It is what powers the site's book recommendation engine, which is based around ratings, what's on a reader's virtual bookshelf and what readers with similar tastes have recommended.