Social Networking Sites

Thankfully Learning 2.0 has not 'forced' me to register on Facebook/MySpace/Bebo etc. I feel hugely intimidated by the idea of online 'friends'. The slings and arrows of real life are bad enough without propelling myself into the virtual sphere and wondering whether people are going to ask me to be my friend (and yes, I'm including the idea of Ning 'friends'). How I feel wounded that everybody hasn't asked me to be their friend while they're busy making friends with each other. But do I really need to be a Ning 'friend' to the person currently sitting down the other end of the workroom?

Yes, I know this is a very personal post. But that is what online social networking is about. I have a real-world friend who is constantly checking Facebook on his mobile. That includes the middle of the night, when he is working, when he is in class, when he is having a conversation with me. Is this the equivalent of constantly scanning the room when you are engaged in an interaction with someone or is it just an extra dimension of reality that we're all going to have to get used to in some way (before the online social networking backlash begins).

Twitter.

Hmmmmmmm.

As there didn't appear to be an escape clause, I did sign up. When I figure out how to do a 'follow me on twitter' I will put it somewhere on this Blogpage (until then: http://twitter.com/jearnieandsitu). Not that I'm anticipating Twittering but you never know - I can't rule out being seduced by the challenge of describing what I'm doing in 140 characters or less when I'm quite obviously sitting down at my desk typing on my computer. Yes, I'm being incredibly facetious but it's almost 7pm on a Friday night and I really should be getting home. Where I don't have the Internet. On purpose (though possibly it might enhance my quality of life - I don't know - no doubt this will be the first place to hear about any change of mind I might have).

#Week 2 Blogs/Wikis/Nings and Setting up Your Own Blog

Although I feel an urge to create via the written word I am also extremely protective of my privacy. There are ways to go about exerting a certain degree of anonymity when creating content (like this) for electronic dissemination but I find the fact that I can see my email address up the top of this page extremely confronting (yes, I know that it's just because I'm signed in and I have set the profile to not display it). I'm not Gen Y or Z (or whatever they might be called: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generations), but I don't think it's a simple as that. Does anyone else feel similarly intimidated by putting themselves/their thoughts etc on to the Internet? Should I just go and make myself a large pot of Camomile tea?

I also have 1 small piece of advice for everyone else starting the 2nd generation of Learning 2.0 - compile a list of all the addresses, usernames and passwords and keep it by your computer (or in a document on your computer). Unless of course, you are keeping track of them all on your iphone.