I recently spoke at the European 140 Characters Conference (#140conf) in London at the O2 Arena on November 17th 2009.

I was on the educational panel at 4pm alongside Sue Black, Shirley Williams , Dave White and Drew Buddie. It was a fun event and a last minute decision we decided to stir things up a bit.

By the way in case you are wondering, I don’t appear in the video…

Gloucestershire College makes the news on its use of social networking websites to support teaching and learning.

Social networking websites such as Facebook are helping to reduce college drop-out rates, it is claimed.

Gloucestershire College says social networking is used to keep students informed and in touch with staff.

“There has been a significant improvement in retention,” says media curriculum manager, Perry Perrott.

This is not about encouraging use of Facebook, but taking advantage of the fact that our learners are using Facebook.

I did find this amusing, but also quite true.

The 46 stages of Twitter

How Twitter is all about the coffee….

Using Twitter to form communities of practice.

A presentation from the Handheld Learning Conference 2009.

Do you Twitter?

Some people have “complained” about Twitter as shallow and lightweight, they have missed the point.

Is Twitter just about following people and reading informative links or is it about conversation and community?

I use Twitter in various ways, saying when I am drinking a coffee,to inform about what I am doing, blog articles and as a backchannel at events and conferences. However telling people is only half the story, the real value of Twitter is the conversation.

Of course really Twitter is all about the coffee. It’s the coffee you drink with colleagues during a break, where you discuss work, but also your commute, TV, films, the weather. It’s the coffee you drink whilst browsing the web and posting links of interesting web site to your blog or in an e-mail. It’s the coffee you drink in a coffee shop, reading the paper or a book. It’s the coffee you drink with fellow delegates during a break or at lunch at a conference. Where you discuss the keynotes, the presentations, the workshops, where you are going next, your hotel, the food, the coffee, what you do, where you’re going, what gadgets you have in your bag.

Twitter is about these moments, but without the physical and geographical limitations. Twitter allows people from different institutions, sectors, different, departments to share these moments. This presentation will look at how Twitter can be used to improve and enhance teaching and learning through the use of Twitter as a community of practice.

I’d done it. My (virtual) life was over. After two years on the online social networking site Facebook, I’d taken the plunge and killed off my account – in Facebook speak, I was “de-activated”.

It hadn’t all been bad; we’d had some good times. I’d enjoyed a bit of snooping as much as the next person and found it useful enough as a way to check out potential love interests, flog unwanted stuff and organise the odd shindig or three.

Could you give up Facebook? Read the full account on BBC News.

David Sugden on his Posterous Blog covers his reaction to the article.

My presentation from Handheld Learning 2009’s Pecha Kucha.

BBC News reports:

Social networking website Twitter has confirmed that it has closed a “significant round of funding”.

Co-founder Evan Williams said in a blog post that the site had secured money from five investment firms.

Will this secure the future of Twitter, or with all the possible problems with the networking site mean the death of Twitter?

At the recent ALT Conference in Manchester I made extensive use of Twitter to support and enhance the conference. It’s a very easy tool which allows delegates to share ideas and links, discuss keynotes and presentations as well as keep informed about what is hot and what is not at a conference.

BBC reports on the continued growth of Facebook.

The world’s largest social networking site just got bigger with the announcement it has 300 million active monthly users from around the globe.

Facebook also revealed that it had started making money ahead of schedule.

Read more.

BBC reports

Software giant Microsoft has introduced “visual search” to its Bing search engine to try to further set itself apart from market-leader Google.

and in other news…

Google has unveiled a service called Fast Flip to let users consume news more quickly and to boost the flagging fortunes of the news industry.

The product is designed to mirror the way readers flick through magazines and newspapers.

Now you don’t need to read the news online anymore, you can just look at the pictures!