Edublogger Etiquette - Twitter & Self-Promotion
David Jakes has written a post on his blog entitled Tragedy of the Commons. In it, he claims:
At its best, Twitter is a place to share a resource, a link to a new blog post, or an insight, and even a place to have a little fun. It’s a place that could be about learning. At its very worst, Twitter is a self-indulgent exercise in self-promotion and pettiness.While the post itself is chiefly about Twitter and what Jakes considers to be "over the top self promotion," the comments to the post have sparked an interesting discussion about personal growth, extending oneself beyond the echochamber, getting involved as an educator, and becoming a catalyst for change.
Right now, I think we are watching Twitter change right before our digital eyes. Be the first with the tool (Diigo, for example), be the first with a post, be the first with the wiki, be the first to uStream, stake your claim in a never-ending game of name building and recognition. Take advantage of the commons, go ahead.
A few questions about etiquette to consider in light of this discussion:
- When do a person's advertisements (on various social networks) for activities they may be promoting become an undesirable display of self-promotion?
- What are the rules of etiquette - if any - that might apply to the combination of educational blogging and Twitter use?
- Do you think that the idea of "offensive self promotion" takes care of itself in the very act of "following?"
- Do we simply "un-follow" those who's level of self promotion bothers us or whose intent we question?
- Better question: Is the standard for reasonable self promotion something that varies by reader?
In the Interesting Side-note Department: Partly because of Jakes' push (and mostly because I have always thought this would be an important discussion), I have decided to take this topic to NECC in the form of a facilitated discussion at the first-ever Fringe Festival (Concurrent Session 10). If you would be interested in participating with me, I would love to have you join me.Image Source: This image is a tag cloud that I created from the text of the 93 comments to Jakes' post.
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