Social Media

   Wow, the semester is already over? It feels like just yesterday I was setting up my Twitter account, Gmail, and Google Hangouts! The semester has flown by and I can definitely say this was one of my favorite classes! In the middle of stressing over more complicated classes like chemistry and biology, I found a bit of excitement and relaxation time in the blog posts, tweets, Facebook posts, and group projects this class brought into my life.
   The group projects were probably one of the most exciting parts of this class. Not only did I get to meet new people and make friends, but I also got to see how they felt about the topic and how they interpreted it all. It was like seeing things from a different, new perspective and I really enjoyed that!
   In the final group project, I'll be honest; I had no clue about what social media site to use. And, I wasn't even sure who my group was going to be. Then, since we had previously all worked together, Brianne, Martin, and I decided to link up again, and Danny was added. But, we still weren't sure which social media site to cover. The sites I use regularly were already covered in class, and the only other ones I could think of had sadly already been taken by other groups. But, luckily, Martin came to the rescue! He suggested Pinterest and we were all on board with it, so we chose it. I was excited because I don't use Pinterest, so I was going to learn about it and hopefully take an interest to it.
 

   Academically, I knew this would be a little challenging since I knew nothing about the social media site and I'd have to learn all about it, but it was interesting. I got to research and look more into Pinterest and I found out it was actually pretty cool! Plus, if I could learn it and understand it, I knew I would be able to teach it to others. 

   We didn't really have a set plan for dividing up the work for the module, until Martin stepped in again. He had already finished the introduction module with all of the background about what Pinterest was, so Brianne, Danny, and I figured we'd split the discussion, assignment, and quiz up. We each took a part (Brianne/assignment, Danny/discussion, me/quiz). 

   I figured our audience for learning how to use Pinterest would be a wide audience. I, a teenager, had no clue how Pinterest worked up until this project, so I knew there were probably others around my age wanting to know how to use it. But my mom and her friends use Pinterest to get cute DIY ideas, along with fun recipes, so I knew it wasn't just younger people using Pinterest. It's a website with ideas for everyone of all ages, so I knew this module would be useful for an audience of anyone interested in Pinterest. 

   I figured out how to create quizzes, discussions, and assignments by watching the video that Kurt posted the link to! I was a bit confused at first, but after watching him explain and show how things worked, it was more clear. Messing around with the quiz features too as I created one was fun and simple enough to follow. 

   As much as I enjoyed creating a module for Pinterest, my favorite module and blog this semester was the Twitter challenge! It was fun trying to get followers and find people with the same interests that I had. Plus, getting graded to tweet my thoughts? Talk about a fun assignment! 

   This semester made me realize just how insane social media and the Internet are. They're both simple, quick, and easy ways to communicate with people from all over the world-- with just the tap or touch of a button. Anyone can post their thoughts and morals wherever they want, and I'm still not sure if that's a good thing or not. But I know that a class revolving around the history and current ways of it all was a fun one to take, and it changed my perspective on a lot of things!