Social Media - are you using it or is it using you?

There is a survey which says that 50% of internet users will quit waiting for a video to load after 10 seconds. I have seen people click on a button and after 3 seconds they are visibly frustrated for waiting.

In this technological era of urgent immediacy, so many of us, oh no, back space… so many of the youth find ourselves spending more than enough time surfing the internet.

The internet is a blessing in disguise, a technological advancement which is a two-edged sword, more than fire. It can kill and it can save. Why go to the library when there is google? Come on!

You will just hop around the internet if you don’t know how to use it, which is obviously the case now as so many of us have limited the use of the internet to social media.

I resolved not to use my facebook page for anything more than my professional interest and making connections, so I even moved to LinkedIn for professional contacts and I am on LinkedIn more for that than facebook.

I learnt facebook message has moved to messenger so I had to download that also, some friends on facebook are always sending me messages over there and I can’t tell them I hate using messenger, not for any bad reason but I think that is why there is whatsapp.

A twitter account is not for tweeting unnecessarily, it should be result oriented. Oh, I am on instagram as well, I only take pictures of my professional activities not when I am walking on the street or having dinner it doesn’t mean you can’t do that, maybe you walk for a living.

Viber? I use it to make calls to my professional contacts that are not on skype. Oh yeah, am on skype as well. Skype is for my international calls, all I need is stable internet connection, MTN helps with that a lot just that sometimes they let me down but anyway I am their loyal subscriber for 7 years.

It doesn’t help me much on my youtube channel. On wordpress I am pretty much open to getting tutorials.

I am always on whatsapp-when I am supposed to be, helping friends and family and clients and everyone who needs DOLPHMEDICS to be of help. DOLPHMEDICS is a health consult.

If you spend all your time on facebook and none on LinkedIn, the internet is using you except you are on facebook business. If you spend all your time on twitter just reading tweets from everywhere with no particular interest in building relationship which may lead to business relationships, quit following.

I stumbled on the list below and I shared with some of my friends but if you are reading this then you are my friend so make use of it.

GOOGLE SCHOLAR – for scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources including thesis, books, abstracts and articles.

ACADEMIC EARTH – get online courses from leading universities even in your pajamas.

YOUTUBE EDU – educational videos, enough of the football and movies and music.

THE SAYLOR FOUNDATION – similar to college curriculum, take courses online and get certificates. Cool right?

INYDA.COM –offers video tutorials to help you master your skills. Improve your skills.

TED – the annual conference of innovative thinkers. Enough of entertainment shows.

ITUNES U – learning on the go from top universities. For iPhones though, no problem if you are not an iPhone user, we are sorry, move on to other options.

MIT OPEN COURSEWARE – free online courses offered by MIT

CAREGO – study plans based on your strength and weakness.

UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE – tuition-free online university. FREE. Just get connected.

OPEN SESAME – marketplace for online training…22,000+ courses. Yes, 22,000+…

GOOGLE HELPOUT – one-on-one appointment with experts for help on almost every subject. Make a date with google helpout not another lady or guy.

COURSERA- online courses for free with top American universities. Have two certified certificates from here already. Jump on.

FLIPBOARD – beautiful tiles making browsing articles a stunning experience.

OUORA – you ask the internet, discuss it – with top experts, and get results back and forth. Switch from already made answers from google, talk to the experts.

TREEHOUSE – teaches how to create websites and mobile applications. Get your theory into practice.

UMANO – largest collection of audio articles powered by real people. No recorded computed voices. Get real.

PEER TO PEER UNIVERSITY (P2PU) – learn at your own pace online. That’s the internet!

BBC ONLINE LEARNING PORTAL – for multiple subjects, you have heard enough news, oops, bad news actually. Shut down the news, start learning, you will be in the news.

MEMRISE – scientifically proven to be fun enough that you learn something. Yes, proven.

KHAN ACADEMY – free eLearning in Math, Science, finance and more. I have subscribed though. You should join.

UDACITY – online classes. You busy with work, join a class, learn when you can.

MOZILLA DEVELOPERS NETWORK – web developers.

ANKI-DIGITAL FLASHCARDS for learning.

Use the internet and do not allow the internet to use you.