It's been a while since my last blog post and it's good to be blogging again. I came across the latest Social Media Revolution video by Erik Qualman (@equalman), author of the best-selling book Socialnomics, and was once again amazed at the statistics and the huge impact that social media has on our everyday lives. Can you believe social media as a whole is probably less than five years old? Now think about what the future would be like for online engagement and communication five years from now? Isn't that just exciting!
Now how does it relate to our current (and future) education system? I believe that schools at all levels from primary to post-secondary should use social media such as Facebook and Twitter to better engage with students both inside and outside the classroom. Online group discussions on Facebook or Twitter should be the norm in order to encourage social and continuous learning among students anytime and anywhere. A recent study showed that using Twitter for educational purposes in the classroom doubled student engagement compared to traditional learning methods. Interestingly enough, it also increased students' GPAs. Although a small sample size was used, this study still shows that there is opportunity to use Twitter and even Facebook in class to teach and engage students in discussion since most students are on it anyway while their professor is lecturing in the background.
Do you agree or disagree about using social media in (and even outside) the classrooms to better engage students? I'd like to know your comments.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Meeting Guy Kawasaki
I met Guy Kawasaki at The Art of Marketing Conference on Monday! I also got his autograph for his new book Enchantment! I also got a chance to play around with the Blackberry Playbook!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Ignite Toronto 5 was a blast!
Went to Ignite Toronto last night at Drake Hotel. It was fantastic to listen to new ideas from different people. Best of all, they were only limited to five minutes each presentation! Given my short attention span, I actually paid attention for the whole hour or so event! Here's the event link: http://igniteto.com/
My favorite speakers would have to be:
Ramona Pringle - http://www.ramonapringle.com (@ramonapringle)
Mike Tissenbaum from U of T
Johanne Durocher - http://fashioninmotion.wordpress.com/ (@fashioninmotion)
Jason Sae Bento - http://www.nicebento.com/ (@jay21art)
Looking forward to the next Ignite TO! Join me!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Using Twitter to find a job
Best Buy is hiring a Mobile Specialist
Loblaw's is hiring Part-time Store Associates
Accenture is a hiring full time CRM Manager
If you're looking for more specific jobs, then try using more specific search words such as: insurance, marketing, bartending, web developer, etc. Here's a video from Mashable that explains more in detail. There's so many ways you can use Twitter and search for information! So give it a try if you haven't yet! Would you like me to help you search for a job on Twitter? Send me a tweet to @jreandino! Follow me on Twitter too!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
School is not cool! The education revolution must start now!
There is a HUGE problem with the education system. It is outdated based on the Industrial Age and it needs to evolve to our generation's needs and our fast paced society. Sir Ken Robinson explains why in this amazing video illustration called Changing Education Paradigms. I believe this is my calling, and if this is yours too, let's work together to make this happen!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
You know you love the Old Spice Guy
1. Remarkable, creative and funny ads - You know the commercial is fictional and even somewhat ridiculous... and yet your curiosity urges you to watch it! Why?! Because it is unique and entertaining! It's nothing like those typical and boring body wash commercials we've seen before and ignored. Seeing a half naked man walk on water, then swan diving off a waterfall into a jacuzzi, which then bursts and reveals a motorbike is definitely something more interesting to watch. What's more, you can even watch the other commercials on the Old Spice YouTube channel just for kicks.
2. Got the online community talking - Through Facebook and Twitter, Old Spice has sparked so much conversation amongst the online community with lots of people voicing out their questions and ideas to the Old Spice Guy. Even though he is a fictional character, people have been so compelled to interact with him as though he was a real person! Amazing!
3. Made a human connection through YouTube - Using YouTube to upload response videos to connect with celebrities (ie. Ellen Degeneres, Ashton Kutcher, Alyssa Milano) and answer real questions from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Yahoo was brilliant. Not only were the videos creatively and humorously scripted, it also felt more personal and engaging. It made people feel connected to the Old Spice brand and thus caused the videos to go viral.
With the success that Old Spice is receiving from their amazing marketing campaign, I believe that other innovative companies will follow this new trend as well. People want to feel connected, and the future of marketing rests upon being able to build that connection in a personal yet impersonal way just like Old Spice did. Even though we will no longer see the Old Spice Guy again, I'm sure he will be an icon everyone won't forget. You know you love the Old Spice Guy...
Related articles:
Old Spice Campaign - Could this be the best online campaign ever? | Kherize Five
13 reasons why Old Spice's new social media campaign is pure brilliance | Inkling Media
How the Old Spice videos are being made | Read Write Web
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Why I will miss Ninjavideo
Ninjavideo became my favorite site for four reasons. First, it was FREE! There was no registration required or any other strings attached in order to access the site. Although there were some ads I had to click through before viewing videos at times, that small inconvenience was nothing as long as I was able to watch my TV shows without interruptions. I was also able to save a lot of money by watching movies there instead of in the theaters.
Second, instant high quality (i.e HD, DVD, Blu-ray) online streaming! This feature saved me a ton of gigabytes of hard drive space and saved me a lot of time downloading torrents into my computer. Before Ninjavideo, I would spend hours downloading 350MB episodes and by the time I made it through the whole season, I would have used at least 5GB of space. Multiply that by 3 seasons (average estimate per TV show) and multiply that again by 5 TV shows (average number I would keep before deleting) and after doing the math, you can see how I always ran out of hard drive space.
Third, well organized and maintained website. Since the TV shows and movies were organized alphabetically and episodes are sorted per season, searching for a specific episode or movie was quick and easy. Also, because of Ninja's dedicated admins, the site was updated frequently and any reported bugs or broken videos were fixed within a reasonable time.
Fourth, the latest movie releases! Most new films would be in cam quality, but as time went by, I was impressed how even DVD and Blu-ray rips were eventually uploaded for maximum quality and entertainment pleasure. Seasonally, it was also fun to see movie theme packages of older movies being uploaded such as zombie movies, war movies, vampire movies, and much more.
So what's going to happen to Ninjavideo? After listening to the Ninjavideo manifesto podcast by Phara, one of the site admins, her words made me realize how capitalism and greed are causing so much social injustice and societal problems in our world today, and unfortunately, that is where piracy originated from. Ninjavideo may have been shutdown for now, but it will never die because its online community still exists all around the world. To listen to the Ninjavideo manifesto podcast click here: Part 1 Part 2.
So this blog post has been dedicated to the team at Ninjavideo. Thank you to all the admins and everyone else involved for contributing your time, money, and effort to making this such a great site... if not the best! Without you, my life wouldn't have been as fun and entertaining. I know we will see you again soon. Long live Ninja!
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