Websites are increasingly becoming places to collect information from your visitors. You can passively collect visitor information by using Web analytics, and you can actively collect information using online forms and surveys.

A content management system such as WordPress has a built in dashboard, or administrative panel, that automatically tracks data on your website visitors (see picture). Through the dashboard, you are able to access website visitor statistics including

• The total number of overall website views
• The total number of unique visitors to your website
• Which pages are the most popular
• Which links were clicked the most

LinkedIn has many applications you can choose from to further customize your LinkedIn presence. These applications help your profile move from a static online resume to an interactive multimedia portfolio of your best work. There are applications for sharing recent blog posts, presentations and videos, and even your reading list.

Both Slideshare and Google Docs allow you to share PowerPoint-like presentations on your profile with visitors. Slideshare has many sharing features built in, including number of views, full screen mode, sharing, and commenting. Their full site, slideshare.net, allows you to upload PowerPoint presentations, customize slides, and add narration. The Google Docs application goes one step further, allowing you to embed YouTube videos into your presentations. Currently, this is one of the only ways to add video to your LinkedIn profile, which can help your profile really stand out.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library

One way to use Twitter with students is to have them follow five luminaries in the field of their choice in the local area.  If, for example, Janie wants to be a veterinarian, Janie should follow five veterinarians.  Perhaps she even makes a Janie vet account on Twitter specifically for these conversations.  Her assignment is simply to check Twitter once every few days, read the tweets of the mentors, respond when appropriate, and ask intelligent questions.  By showing that you have done your homework and are willing to work hard, students make an impression on the professionals and are much more likely to win scholarships, build relationships, and get connected to others in the field.  This takes work and effort but can be well worth it.  Twitter is still, for the most part, an unfiltered communication tool, with the actual experts checking their own account.  Gaining direct access to notables in the field is a rare commodity these days, so students should be encouraged to use this direct access wisely.  A student who wants to be a news reporter can follow five local reporters and comment on their stories, send them article ideas, and post links to their own stories from their own local newspaper.  These posts may gain some traction with the local reporter who might be thinking of doing a special interest piece.  The possibilities are endless.

LinkedIn best practices- Provide value

Give before you take and deposit before you withdraw. Savvy school leaders know that before you make a negative phone call to a parent, it is always a good idea to have established a positive relationship. Find ways to say something positive before you criticize. The same is true on social networks. Before you ask for something, always give. Your contacts need to be wooed. Become the person that provides value to your network.

Four ways to provide value on LinkedIn are to share great content, write recommendations, connect others and stay current.

1. Share great content: Add links to articles, videos, blogs and professional resources that you feel would benefit your connections. By regularly and frequently sharing valuable content, your connections will see you as a resource for valuable information. When they need assistance, they might turn to you for help. One strategy to share great content is to read with a purpose. With all of the social news tools available for sharing information and articles, when you are reading the Times or Education Week and you find something interesting, instead of just highlighting the article or photocopying it for your faculty, consider who in your LinkedIn network would also benefit from the article. Send them a message on LinkedIn saying, “You might want to check this out. This might be helpful to you.” Get in the daily habit of reading with a purpose and sharing valuable content. When the time comes to ask for something you will be seen as someone who provides value.

2. Write recommendations: Use LinkedIn to recommend those you have worked with in the past.  Writing short recommendations on LinkedIn only takes a few minutes and makes quite an impact on others. This is a great way to provide value to your connections without asking for anything. Often, your generosity will be reciprocated. As an added bonus, others who read the recommendation will be able to link to your page and learn more about you and your school.

3. Connect others: Set yourself apart professionally by building relationships between your connections. Look at the list of people you know and consider how they might add value to each other. Make an introduction between two of your connections, expressing the mutual benefit they’ll receive. Become a connector invites others to connect with you.

4. Stay current: Make it easy for your connections to the stay engaged with your professional work. This is as simple as a status update once a week, sharing your excitement for a current project. Now that you’ve created your LinkedIn profile and made connections, it is time to manage your profile and update it. Make updating LinkedIn part of your regular routine. Seeing LinkedIn as part of your professional practice will help you both increase your brand equity and also grow professionally. The worst time to network for a new position is when you don’t have one, and the best time to network is when you are happy with your current position. Become a frequent LinkedIn updater. Establish a regular linking routine of posting a link to a favorite article once a week. For those just getting started, simply set a schedule reminder for Friday morning to visit three educational websites, read through five or so articles, and post a link to one that seems interesting. This regular routine of posting links to interesting articles will help you stay in the mix of your connections. This is important as your connections are infrequently looking to connect. You want to stay “top of mind” and the best way to do this is to the regularly post content that is of value.

Saw this great post on kqed.org.

Some of my favorite reasons include:

• Students are simply more connected: Many teachers are familiar with Blackboard and other classroom community systems, but students typically only check in when necessary, while students are often checking Facebook multiple times per day.
• Calendars and events are easy to share: Remind students of important dates and events right where they hang out — on Facebook.
• Students will learn 21st century skills: A study from the University of Minnesota discovered that social networking sites like Facebook help students practice the skills they need to be successful in the 21st century.
• Students want to share beyond the classroom: Facebook and other social media tools open up the possibility for students to share what they’ve learned not just with their fellow students, but with the world.
• Facebook encourages collaboration rather than cliques: Everyone can speak up and work together on Facebook, where students may be held back socially in the classroom.
• There’s an opportunity to discuss appropriate use: Set students up for success in social media by discussing appropriate ways to use it.
• Students can learn about social media in a safe environment: By using Facebook in the classroom, you can teach students about the safe use of social media.
• You’ll save paper: Permission slips and flyers that used to be sent home on paper and eaten by the dog can bow be uploaded in Facebook groups for parents to use instead.

I saw this on CrowdScience.com:

What’s most amazing is the amount of content being constantly uploaded.

No wonder we’re so overloaded with information.

A few 60-second highlight stats:

694,445 searches on Google, 695,000 Facebook updates, 370,00 minutes of calls on Skype, 98,000 tweets, 20,000 posts on Tumblr, 13,000 hours of music streaming on Pandora, 12,000 new ads on Craigslist, 6,600 pictures uploaded to Flickr, 1,500 new blog posts, and 600 new YouTube videos.

People are still joining in the global conversation: 320 new Twitter accounts, 100 new LinkedIn accounts and 60 new blogs were created, with over 50 WordPress downloads and 70 domain names registered.

Wow.

With Google Plus’ recent release, many are scrambling to categorize and define this new social tool.
In my own research, I’ve found this summary to best clarify the differences between Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus:

Facebook:

Symmetric Sharing: First you confirm ties, then content is privately shared.

Twitter:

Asymmetric Following: Everyone shares publicly. You can follow and subscribe to the public feeds.

Google Plus:

Asymmetric sharing: You can choose to share with anyone. They don’t have to share with you. If you both share, it shows up in your stream.

Today I was featured on coachradio.tv

Great advice from Justin Lukasavige:

1. Build a calendar for blogging
2. Share your video message in 2 minutes or less
3. Build a following through consistency
4. Check out needatopic.com

Thank you Justin for your ideas!