I remember January 20, 2013. This was the day I turned 13, and I was allowed to join Facebook. In order to join Facebook you had to be 13 or older to sign up. Many of the people in my class already had Facebook as they “faked” their age to be able to join. I could not wait to finally have a Facebook account and finally be able to have direct access to my classmates. I was so excited; I already had ideas of what I would post about and had a plan that I would be an active member of the Facebook community to connect with family and friends. 

After having social media for a short amount of time, I realized that I do not like to post as I was unsure of what to post and came to the realization of why I was posting and who am I doing this for? I decided I will be a scroller, who scrolls through the newsfeed and sees other pages and other people’s posts instead of a poster. See the poll I did on Twitter…

As time continues to pass, I rarely post about anything and even before I do, I think of why am I posting and what am I looking to get out of this?  I often find myself only looking on social media when I am bored, trying to buy something or selling something online. You would think this means that I am an introvert and a private person. Meanwhile, I believe myself to be an extrovert, who makes friends easily and is easy to talk to. 

Currently in 2020, at 20 years old, I have created my first ever Twitter account. I knew Twitter was the blue bird that tweets, but I didn’t know much else about it. 

Once creating my Twitter account, I learned very quickly this account is going to be slightly different than all my other social media accounts. My Twitter account is to make connections with current and fellow education students. I can no longer be just a scroller, I have to be a poster and post, like, comment and share frequently. Since starting this Twitter journey, my professional growth has improved dramatically. I have been able to meet and connect with more education students at Uof R and learn more about online resources for teachers. Most things Twitter related are new to me. I was most surprised by the live Twitter chat. If I had created this account as a personal account I don’t believe I would have learned as much. 

I will be forever grateful, blessed and thankful for this class, (EDTC300), my fellow classmates and Katia (our professor) everyone who has taught me about the Twitter world and the huge importance of connecting and collaboration. “We can do great things alone but even greater things together.”