This week I chose to explore Vimeo and Flickr. The Lynda videos were helpful and easy to pick and choose which items were important to watch, But like all of the other sites I learned the most with the process of “Hmmm… I wonder what this button does?”
3 things I like most about Vimeo:
1. Editing options. Even after doing all the editing possible in iMovie there are even more sounds and special effects available after the upload; enough to make anybody look and sound almost alien.
2. Definition. Much better than YouTube when shot with a good quality camera. I think I’ll take my GoPro along the next time I go flying and start uploading some aviation footage. Hopefully, it won’t be useful to the NTSB someday.
3. Search function. This is a love-hate choice. I love that I can search a topic with broad or narrow terms and come up with dozens of good videos (they have lots about the Edible Schoolyard). But I hate that I spent watching them for four hours last night.
3 things I like most about Flickr:
1. Mobile platform. Being able to snap a picture on the go, edit it and upload to Facebook or Twitter is convenient and I can see the utility for a nonprofit special event.
2. Definition. Same as above.
3. Organization. The album format is easy to understand and use and limits a lot of unnecessary searching.
P.S.: Facebook update:
I learned that I can unfollow (less traffic) rather than unfriend (hurt feelings). I already knew I live on the buckle in the Bible belt but was not aware that most of my local “friends” were in the “Glory Hallelujah” club. I can respect a person’s religious freedom but don’t necessarily want to be exposed to it every day.
Innovations in Health Communications 
FB follow-up was exceptionally helpful. The love-hate relationship with Vimeo that you have describes mine for Social Media in general. If I am truly, truly honest with myself, my inability to limit my time on sites like YouTube, FB, and Linked-In as much contributed to me getting off FB as did my other inability to operate them in an effective way. So…this class is posing a problem. Now I have only the excuse that cannot monitor myself well. How do people keep social media from becoming a time sink? This is a serious question.
I say serious for the obvious reason above, but also in the context of Public Health. How do we know that all the time we put into tweets and FB and YouTube, etc, actually do any good? (no disrespect intended)
Heretic!!! 🙂 Personal insight can be SUCH a burden. But seriously, I share your concerns about productivity. So far, my impression is that success is determined by the number of followers/likes/tags/retweets you have rather than a measure of how much your program is improved/utilized. Sort of like our program planning course without having the evaluation component built in from the beginning. Perhaps these platforms are too new and evolving too fast for their effectiveness to be evaluated.
Hi Randall. I am glad that you’re getting comfortable with different types of social media. Yes..that’s one of the salient feature of FB that you can unfollow somebody but they are still your friends. Personally, I try not to discuss politics and religion in FB. By the way, I like your second picture. We call that “Lechon”. Although most Filipinos love roasted pig, I’m not a fan of it. Good post Randall.
Thanks Ron. Yes, Bubba (a local grill-master) roasts one up every year for the hospital fundraiser.
Ron, no for lechon??
Great post! And your P.S. Facebook up-date really made me laugh!
Randall……awesome post, especially FB update:) I really need it and it is a great help! Thank you:)
Randall, your facebook update made me chuckle….I unfollow people as well. Its the only way to weed out excess information =)