First questions

(a) define what social networking is (in your own words);

In my opinion there are two types of social networking - that which occurs online, and that which occurs online. In both my online and offline worlds I enjoy having disparate networks of friends and connections who define parts of who I am and how I function in the world.  These days, my online and offline social networks often intertwine.

A network is basically a group of people who are connected to you by virtue of something you have in common.  For example, I have a network of friends who I work out with at crossfit.  We see each other at workouts and at functions organised by the box, but we're also active through Facebook where we post articles and comments and questions to each other.

On the other hand, I'm a member of LinkedIn, where I'm connected to people who I've worked with or come into contact with professionally - a few of them are personal friends, and some are Facebook friends, but most are not.

For many years I wrote a blog on bilingual chinese / english education.  I wrote this anonymously and over the years built up quite a following of anonymous strangers, some of whom became friends - we were united in a social network but most of us never met.

The best social networks are the ones that give you a buzz, where you're interacting, enjoying and learning and contributing all at the same time.  Funnily enough for me that usually works when I'm one on one with someone and we're "jamming" - not in the musical sense but in the app sense, and it's a case of "look what cool toy I found" and seeing how we can apply it to solve real world personal or professional problems (like today).  Or when you're trying to plan thing and you or someone knows someone who then knows someone else who would be perfect for a talk or presentation or bit of information that will complete what you're trying to achieve.

In order to have a good social network you need to be able to both "get out there" physically and network in real life, and "be out there" hanging out where your professional peers are hanging out - whether that's blogging, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or whatever else the flavour of the month is.  - And if your kids aren't doing it - it's probably not worth spending much time on.

 In the context of this course, social networking is probably referring to the networking that happens online.  

(b) list what social networking technologies and sites you already use (for personal, work and

study purposes); and

LInkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Diigo, Blogger, Flipboard, Youtube, Evernote, Goodreads, Whatsapp, Picassa, Google+, 

(c) describe what you expect to learn from completing INF506

Keep current, maximise and optimise my time online.  Coherence between the various platforms.