Week 10 - Hootsuite

Hootsuite's creator was Ryan Holmes he needed a tool to manage his array of social media accounts in one way, but found there was no such thing so he began to develop and create Hootsuite.

I had never heard of this before the social media for learning and found opening an account quite straight forward and easy to use,

I was able to add 3 of my most used or favourite social media accounts as after 3 there is a cost to using the services,

the following is the plan of how it works best depending on what you are after as a business or an individual.

The Right Plan for the Right Audience

•  Free – Hootsuite offers a free plan suitable for individual users. It allows users to run up to three social media profiles, however it does not offer all of the services that higher plans have. But it does include basic analytic reports and message scheduling.
• Pro – Hootsuite Pro is fitting for small to medium sized companies that have anywhere from one to 500 employees. This plan includes the management of up to 50 social profiles, bulk message scheduling, access to premium apps and an enhanced analytics report. This plan is $9.99 a month for one user, but the cost increases for every user up to the 10 possible added.
• Enterprise – Hootsuite’s most extravagant plan is appropriate for large corporations, as well as businesses and agencies that need one platform for teams to manage social channels for multiple clients. On top of Pro’s features, services also include real-time analytics, publishing approvals and a start of five users, among other perks. Prices for this plan vary and are not public knowledge.

Hootsuite Pros

• Manage multiple Twitter, Facebook (profiles and pages), LinkedIn, WordPress, Foursquare and Google+ networks all from one place
• Schedule updates (including on a calendar and even upload from a spreadsheet (csv file)
• Collaborate as a team (delegate replies, tweets, mark as done, track messages etc)
• Mobile apps (iOS & Android)
• Customised analytics (including scheduled reports)
• RSS integration (post updates from an RSS feed)
• Helpful and comprehensive support pages and friendly customer support team
• Connects 35 Social Networks in one place
• Scheduled Updates
• Social medial analytics (Influences & Insights)
• Social Media Monitoring (What am I getting right and what am I getting wrong?)
• Free plans available
• 30 day free Pro Trial
• Single click reply 
• Upload bulk social media messages (time saver!!)
• Social media management tool
  

Hootsuite Cons

• Expensive Analytics Reports & the Point System
• Forced to Use Owly
• Expensive Custom URL Shorteners
• Facebook Image Problem
• No Data in Facebook Insights
• Expensive for Teams
• The Pro Plan (Post free trial) is billed annually
• 30 day free trial sucks you in
• Dashboard is a little busy
• Expensive analytical report
• No thumbnail or summary previews in facebook.
• No data in facebook insights
• Lower facebook insight

how ever there are some alternatives to Hootsuite to check these out follow the link below -

https://makeawebsitehub.com/hootsuite-alternatives/

Week 9 - Online Presentations - Slides.google.com

Online presentation (Google Slides) -

I think this is a fantastic tool and I personally loved the convenience of it when working collaboratively with people who are not in the same room or even area, think this could really work in a classroom setting and thing should be introduced into schools and colleges were they could build relationships with other peers in different areas, sharing ideas and differences in their cultures...

Here is the group presentation that we worked on (Llinos,Terence,Di,Aeron)

Week 8 - Online Meeting Tools

Video call Skype – my daughter has used this services to be able to have chats with her dad who is in Germany so this was ace so she could actually see him but this has now been made redundant in our house due to face-time!.

I have also had some experience of conducting interviews via Skype to young people who are unable to attend an interview due to location, this has worked well with some minor technical difficulties.
with the interviews was good sometimes to have multi agencies attend the Skype meeting online and collaborate plans working together,

Some of the features of Skype are :-

a)Running a lecture online for students who cant attend
b)Screen Sharing
c)Video Switching - Skype works out who is talking and switches to their camera

Screen sharing didn’t work for me to others but I could see others!

It also said that is was already installed on my pc but had to install a plugin (Stef says this is what it was called)

Video uses more bandwidth (Stef's words)  most do audio.

Audio call Skype
– uses less band width so if internet signal is poor, audio would be better.

The one advantage that Skype has over Facebook is the screen sharing.

Facebook – can do audio and video but can not share screens, but can send files or links word docs.

Google hangouts – can screen share and can also have up to 100 different people, the user interface is easier to use, multi-use with google hangouts, and allows the ability to chat while trying to get things like screen share working.  I quite like google hangouts but for convenience Facebook as I have the app on my phone - although stef tells me there is a google hangout app but most of my friends use Facebook.

Week 7 - Facebook

Is Facebook really a learning tool?

In my opinion some of the main things to be learnt from Facebook are what your friends have had for lunch, or how many pounds they may have lost in fat club that week or even the next family holiday planned and just when their home may be unoccupied!

I think Facebook is a great social media tool for keeping in touch with family and friend who don’t live so close or even those who do but the business of life gets in the way Facebook helps to help people keep informed and to even feel still involved and know what’s going on in their lives,

I don’t think I have learnt anything educational from Facebook during my time as a Facebooker apart from the newest addition to the family in the little human kind or even the newest furry friend..

Facebook can be biased and only connect you the thing that you have shown an interest in and what you have shown as a common interest and not really introduce you to anything new, therefore not really giving you a wider knowledge of the world and what is in it,

Facebook in my experience has some good qualities and I have been able to stay in tune with some close friends who no longer live closer enough to have a cuppa with, but also some very negative ones with bullying as they are named key board warriors, the world can be a nasty place and people are not always positive and helpful and can really thrive from others unhappiness and so this is why you need to make sure your privacy settings are secure and correct and then it can be enjoyed but only for personal reasons I feel not for learning much about the world that is further than next door! 

Week 6 - Pinterest

Pinterest

here is a link to my pets board -

i think that Pinterest could be a useful tool for some but defiantly not suited for all,
what i have found that it is better for learning the basic life stuff,

cooking, crafts, making dog treats and even Christmas cards but for any help with higher education i have found this not to be the greatest tool..

it has sometimes given me diagrams of theory tables but i have then had to find the contents needed for another source,

Week 5 - Linkedin

check out my linkedin profile -

Public Profile

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/di-marshall-970a3b131

Public Profile
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/di-marshall-970a3b131

I have never actually though about using the social media to advertise myself..

Although I can see some benefits to it but maybe in particular lines of careers and maybe not so much in the field of care as I am,

It’s a good tool to keep your information up to date and to almost have an online CV if only just for yourself, this is what I would find it useful for, as all the jobs I have applied for will still want a written application form!

I have not made many contacts and this I think is because I have not found my navigation around the linkedin site, and the connections I have been those who use it regularly have added me!

I can see the benefits and feel this could be something of the future and great way for people to be given an appeal opportunity if they are PC savvies but for now I am not so this I feel at this time is not really for me... it’s not really my thing I much prefer the whole pen to paper thing and the paper copy,

Not that I wouldn’t be willing to give it a go and to even promote it with the people I support but not everyone has the money or the resources to access the internet much to people dismay and disbelief and also would we not be putting people out of a job if we do everything over the internet!

Week 4 - Google Docs

Google Docs

Google Doc's i can see would have some great pro's for people who are tasked to work together and are not able to meet up in the same location,
our task was to collaborative work as a group to create a google doc and have our input we were placed in groups but unfortunately this did not work as planned, maybe due to it being long life learning and everyone having other commitments and being unable to find suitable time for all,

in a learning capacity i can defiantly see the advantages of using google docs and how this could benefit, i am dyslexic and think this could work well to ask for help from my friend who is my proof reader who corrects all my spelling when even the PC spellchecker doesn't know what i am trying to write!

some of the other advantages of using google docs are -

• online storage and it is impossible to lose what has been written due to technical issues 
• it is easy to edit from smartphone / tablet thanks to the Google Drive application
• real-time multi-collaboration
• easy to manage user permission

however there are always the negatives which i have found to be the following -

• internet connections 
• You can’t load pictures into the folders

http://digitalis.nwp.org/resource/2196 

here is an interesting article from a student about how he feels about google docs being used in the classroom and i feel like him the positives of google docs do outweigh the negative. 

Week 3 - Twitter

The pros & cos of twitter... 

so sad #whatistheworldcomingtoo! https://t.co/OoqmtPA6DC 

— di marshall (@dieila10) November 7, 2016

so for me i had many trouble trying to get my head round twitter as a learning tool or even as a social media tool, i didn't understand the limitation on words and only being able to use 140 characters per post? i do think this was because i had been a Facebook users after very quickly giving in on twitter some time ago,
after learning more about twitter in class and understanding how to use it better i have realized that actually twitter is a good tool to keep in touch about the world and what is happening in the wider world around us, i found it easier to find topics that i was interested in and it gave me up to date information about changes in law or policy, this has been useful in my line of work being able to follow organisation which are useful to my role which is in housing and homelessness,

Week 2 - Youtube

How to save money -

great video for people who are looking to save money, which is something a lot of us wish we could do better!
you tube has some great tips on pretty much anything you want to find out about,

one of my favorite is a lady named Holly Vlogs who has made many video's about saving money and how to involve the whole family, all based in the UK with shops that everyone can access, here is one of her videos -

why do people work -

you tube has many different videos and i do believe that it can be a useful tool for learning, as i already stated above you can actually find anything you want and the good thing about you-tube is that it is a visual tool which i myself find much easier to use, in the past i have watched videos on you-tube to reset my car keys and also how to make a Victoria sponge,

should people work? 

well this in an interesting one for me because i feel that this topic is not as black and white so some people, the reason i say that is i work in a supported housing project for young people and they would like nothing more than to work and use there time more meaningful and not be stated as the bum's of society which a lot do judge them as, however due to there circumstances and them having to live in a project the rent that they would need to pay would get you a roof top apartments in London..

as much as i believe that some people do get the incorrect benefits and diddle the system so to speak them majority that i have met in life would like more and would like to work for their money but sometimes life gets in the way,

Week one Facebook yeah or nah

facebook v blogger

There is much debate about the media world and the growing Internet community...

looking at the positive ways these sites can impact on the individuals in the world but is it always positive! almost living in a fish bowl were the world can see your next dinner your next Holiday and the friends you like the best,

there is talk that the ever developing facebook site will eventually eradicate the world of blogging and make it a thing of the past, with our children asking 'whats that?' like they do know with the likes of wham and cassette tapes.. 

Blogging is a frequently updated personal diary, a way to express yourself to the world, a place to share your thoughts or feeling or in fact anything you want it to be! your very own website,

it is difficult to establish how many users are actively blogging in the world as it is thought that many accounts are unused but still active,




really!!blogs thought to be in the world!!

there are many mixed reviews and believed that blogging could be a positive resource to use in classrooms; the thinking is that Blogging can in fact improve pupils writing skills and grown there interest in the language they use, its also discussed that it would encourage healthy competitions with peers and enjoying constructive criticism, in tune with establishing their own tone of voice and writing style..

the information about facebook is not so positive, facebook is a ever growing global social media site with well over 1.5 billion active users, research suggests that on average a person spends 15 minuets a day on facebook.

research shows that facebook has changed the way people communicate with each other, facebook uses new dialect less writing and more emoticons to express there feelings and thoughts, 

the facebook world is a worrying thing people share their most secret information almost looking for a cure or a support network via the world wide web bu can find themselves being the victims of trolls or key board warriors who love nothing more than to make people feel more shitty than they do already! recent studies report that frequent facebook users are subject to a deterioration in their well being and there mental health being effected, (Kross et al, 2013)

it suggests that seeing other enjoying life and achieving all there wildest dreams tends to make you question your own life and can lead people to envy there friends..

however it is thought that if facebook is used i  the correct way it can be a great tool, a way to keep in touch with distant family and or friends who are at the other side of the world,
so what do you think? which is the one you prefer... do you think it is about age, class or gender?
you decide..
please see the link below and and see what his opioion is..

blog written by Byran Russell

Formal Introduction

Hi 

My name is Diane Marshall but most commonly known as Di (even to my mum!) 

i live with my young daughter and a number of animals dogs, cats, hamster & fish in a little house on Anglesey which make washing my dishes much nicer as i over look the mountain,

i have just recently returned to education with the hope for a brighter future for my daughter and i.

my goal is to eventually become a specialized counselor supporting vulnerable young people aged between 16 to 25 with substance misuse issues  and who are also struggling with mental health conditions as well as the stress of transition into adulthood.

i currently work in this feild od support and feel there is a massive gap in services, and with none really identified to support young people in this already difficult time in their lives with old becoming an adult and facing the future, the should in my opinion be a middle service, 

this work is a passion of mine and one day i wish to open my own supported houisng project with a more holistic and relaxed approach to treatment and intervention, 
but of this to happen it may have to involve a large lotto win...

but for now i am a full time working single mum who is going to try and work against all odds to get this done to the nest of my ability and hopefully along the way get the hang of this blogging thing! 
then i will be able to capture the journey along the way,  

thanks for reading Di x

my boys

best mates 

brothers 

<3