I decided to take a free online 2 week course through Future Learn. If you haven't heard of this organisation before Google it. There are some very interesting Continuing Education courses run by top universities around the world on offer online.
Rating 9/10
I suppose I was bored. I had no direction of what I wanted to do. I had already established a blog and was starting to upload slide shows and videos onto Youtube. I have a Facebook account but abandoned it because it was taking up too much of my time and was invading my privacy.
This course "The Power of Social Media" was the best thing I have done. It opened up the world of social media to me. The course itself is different to any other online course I have done. Most online courses are static ie here are the modules - read them - do the asignments , submit them and sit the final exams. There is no interaction with any of the other students doing the course online.
With this online course you have the opportunity to get to know your fellow students by setting up a profile including uploading a photo of yourself and posting for example your interests, profession and why you are studying this online course prior to the course commencing. Besides reading fellow students' profiles and comments throughout the course you can also " like", "reply" and "follow" fellow students.
The course is 3 hours a week for 2 weeks however like quite a few students I had to spread it out over 2 weeks due to work and social activities (exercise) commitments . I would go to work during the day and study for a few hours after work each night until I completed all the modules for week 1 and week 2.
I became a "social media socialite" At the end of the 2 week course I did a rough count of the number of "likes" "replies" and "followers" to all my comments I posted for all the modules during the course. Last count was 40 likes, 14 replies and at least 2 followers.
Following are examples of my posts during the 2 week course to fellow students that were liked and/or were replied to.
"WHAT DO OUR SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES SAY ABOUT US?"
"I only have one thing to say about social media profiles - "stalking""
The above was a very early posting and it attracted an immediate reply.
"WHAT ARE NETWORKS?"
"Interesting but yes I agree very theoretical. Does that make it 6 degrees of separation that I'm not the only one in Australia doing this online course?"
I was replying to a fellow student's post and in doing this attracted a "like" and a reply from another fellow student as follows
"No I'm grinding my way through it too :)"
"POWER, INFLUENCE AND ACTION"
"I refer to my earlier post about quality verses quantity. The whole point of Twitter is to give people a voice. Sometimes a single statement from a single person can be more powerful and influential then the masses. Does anyone out there agree?"
The above post I made (ironic as I don't even use twitter as a social media platform) attracted at least 1 "like"
"MARKETING ON A TIGHT BUDGET"
"As a social media experiment I kept my Facebook account open but do not use it, instead I opened it up to all 18 - 22 year olds. So far it's been very interesting what this age group gets up to on social media and what they freely and openly post not just on Facebook but on all social media platforms to everyone out there. Some of it I just don't understand, some of it I like but there are always components I deem to be a little inappropriate for posting on social media.
One of my work collegues is a vegan and this is the type of campaign she posts and likes on Facebook
Its called MERCY FOR ANIMALS.
"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They are not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men."
Alice Walker""
I think I also posted that I liked this campaign because it was to the point. The above posting attracted multiple "likes" and also a reply as follows
"I like your comments and your Facebook experiment. It has given me an idea to pass on to the marketing team here in Qatar. Thanks."
Towards the end of the course I opened my Facebook up to the 45 - 50 year old age group as well and the results were also interesting leading me to add another post about both age groups posting about a mutually inclusive subject of animal welfare.
Before posting the above comments I had a mental blank and could not think of anything to post as a discussion topic relating to that module so I posted the following comment and it actually received 1 "like"
"I can't think of any campaigns - Donald Trump? Is the campaign about him or is he the campaign?"
"HOW KNOWLEDGE OF NETWORKS CAN SHED LIGHT ON OLD QUESTIONS"
"I am a bit lost on this section of the course. Can someone please explain what this section of the course is all about."
I was extremely lost on what this module was all about even after reading fellow students' posts. Someone even posted a comment about whether this was actally approriate for a beginner course and when I read a fellow students comment on "mythical rebirth" I was even more lost so I phoned a friend or 2 actually. I texted one and emailed another. The texted acquaintance was no help at all but my other friend I emailed who resides overseas explained it to me and then I understood a little better in relation to social media. All that came to my mind when I read this module was Wikipedia and Conchita Wurst Eurovision and her song "Rise Like A Phoenix" which was no help to me! Maybe my friend should have done the course!
Oops sorry about delay - going through my posts and noticed this was still in "draft" I must have forgotten to post this in my diary back in April - posted now.
Have completed quite a few more online computer related courses since - Maths Puzzles which was a bit of fun and currently studying week 2 of Functional Programming in Haskell course.
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