While the entertainment corporations flop around trying to make money from social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs, I’m pleased that some governments and educational institutions are using social media platforms for that mundane but important purpose of informing. Bethesda, MD schools are replacing notes that go home in student’s backpacks with tweets and blog posts about a variety of school functions. Updates on expansion plans and reminders about important events get disseminated to parents and community members. What I love about this use of social media is that it pushes necessary information to people who need it—who can review it on their own timetable. Subscribe to a Twitter feed or RSS feed and you can get and review the information you need on your time. Also, as the parent of a two-year old, I like the idea of its permanence. The research I will be doing on a school or a school system will be much more thorough if it includes tweet and blog posts.  The more information schools and governments provide, the better prepared the public can be.

Image courtesy Sean McColgan