Cathy Malcolm Edwards, RIR – Carleton
Cathy Malcolm Edwards, Research Facilitator, Institutional Initiatives at Carleton University and member of RIR, talks about her introduction to social media and the twitterverse.
Cathy Malcolm Edwards, coordonnatrice de recherches au Service des projets universitaires de la Carleton University et membre du RIR, raconte son initiation aux médias sociaux et au monde du twitter.
“Hi, my name is Cathy Malcolm Edwards and I am an introvert.” This thought often circles through my mind when I am in group settings or facing a long day of back-to-back meetings. At the start of my journey into the world of knowledge mobilizing (I am a relative newbie, entering the world in May 2013), I thought this truth might be a barrier to being truly effective in this role. Then one day, my colleague, Kyla Reid, introduced me to social media, specifically the twitterverse.
You might be thinking to yourself “Cathy, it is 2013! Where the heck have you been living? Myspace has been around since 2003 and Facebook since 2004?” Well, while the rest of the planet was jumping in to the virtual world of social media, I was proudly in my cocoon rejecting every “You’ve been invited” email that came my way. At the time, I didn’t see the benefits of social media. It was just one more social event – another thing that I would have to get done and keep updated. I was a hipster, too cool to engage in the platforms of popularity. Oh, how wrong I was.
I am not saying I am a full convert per se and I still do have my hipster attitude about a lot of things (including Facebook), but I am also not too proud to admit that I am enjoying my time spent on twitter in particular. I love taking a few minutes each day to read posts and connect with the community. I often come across something that encourages me towards introspection or gives me an “aha!” moment. My introvert is quite satisfied. I can socialize in my own way, on my own time, and in digestible chunks. I have discovered that social media can be my friend, not my enemy. It allows me to connect and converse with the amazing community around me while nurturing my curiosity and quest for knowledge. I invite you to join me on this journey of discovery @mobilizethat.