Of course, this very blog is a great tool and certainly, sharing other blogs has been an amazing learning curve for me. Many blog platforms such as Blogger are free and quite simple to use & set up.
1. TIME - You could of course spend your whole day keeping your social media feeds updated but that would be rather silly. You have to timetable your social media as you do anything else like practice and study. The amount of information and ability to interact with others is certainly worth the effort. I just keep thinking how differently I would have taught had I & my students had these opportunities. Both YOU TUBE and PINTEREST are more static that Twitter or Facebook but you need to keep them up once a week or so.
2. YOU TUBE - Oh my goodness. There is no end to the learning here. You can listen to any number of presentations of pieces you are doing or want to do. You can get great ideas and make comparisons. And by all means, put your own work up on YOU TUBE. It is yet another way for your choir to hear themselves and see what you are talking about. The simple Windows Movie Maker allows you to add titles and edit easily. Just play and learn. When in doubt, click the help menu.
Even a video such as this done with a camera phone is fun and educational.
3. PINTEREST - This is a sharing medium that is great fun. If you click on our Pinterest button on the right, you will see how we have "boards" which are like files. In the search line, put in what you would like to find, e.g. humour in music and then when you like it click on the PIN button. From the drop down menu that appears, you place it on the BOARD you wish. You can start with just one board and go from there. It is wonderful, now many people & ideas are out there. This one is really fun but drives activity to your blog or Facebook etc.
4. OTHERS - a. ETSY - for selling hand made items
b. FLICKR - for sharing pictures. I have found some good ones here.
c. and the rest - Vimeo, Meet Up, My Space, FourSquare, goggle +, tumblr etc.- each has a specific audience and reason for being. I think you need to understand these but you and the rest of the choir will want to decide what works best for you. Read up on each and see if they rill a need for you. The name of the game is communication. Have fun connecting & learning!
