Thing #19 Social Networks

I checked out Gather and was definitely not impressed. I went to the music tab, saw profanity and other stuff that’s not part of my life. Time to move on! Enough has been said about the Ning tutorial – you’d think if it were such a successful site, someone would know something about miking (ever heard of a lapel mic?)! I looked through 50 pages of their 1,783 sites (20 on each page) and saw a wide variety. Also Wikipedia had an exhaustive spreadsheet – both of these with website titles, subjects and participation in numbers that are really staggering!

The only online community I’m a member of is 23 Thingsters, and for now, that’s all I need! There are several that I want to go back and check out more thoroughly – lastfm, although I wasn’t happy with it until I connected with tags like Broadway and musicals that got me out of the current music scene (take me back to the 60,s, please!!), and projectplaylist which was a blast, because I was able to put together my own mix of 60’s, Chris Tomlin and Josh Groban! My first playlist had just five songs, but what fun! I will definitely be coming back to that, and let my students know about it as well (though, sadly, they won’t go for my same mix!). It will be a good, fast source for our Rock and Roll theme. What’s on My Bookshelf was interesting, a way to connect people and books, and one that I might have time to join when I retire! ☺ Not only can members trade books, they can also write their own description of the books, as well as how they would categorize them. I looked at the home page of Film Crave just for fun, since I’m not a moviegoer unless it’s a musical, G-rated (OK, maybe PG or good PG13) or a cartoon. I really think all of the social networks are interesting, whether or not I would want to join them, because they represent the interests of people all over the world. Good news: I’ve decided NOT to form my own social network of crazy music teachers with slight technological impairment and a love for oldies, classical, and musicals!!