Social media is abuzz with new updates and features to keep us all occupied during Quarantine. While Instagram has now made ‘live’ available on web, Facebook has introduced learning resources for educators in collaboration with UNICEF.
With so much of information going around, every second thousands of tweets being tweeted out; where do you draw the line and how do you keep track of what’s important and what’s not?
Here’s a round-up of a few updates by social media giants in the past 1 month that we found useful during our Quarantime and you might too!
Where learning never stops
With millions of students out of school due to pandemic, it is becoming increasingly difficult for educators to find new and engaging avenues to not hit a pause button to learning. While some schools have resorted to set up their own online platform like KVS Sangathan, several others are making use of learning management systems like Teamie and Moodle.
So where does social media comes into picture?
Facebook has launched an online resource that will guide education communities on how to continue the learning process using Facebook products, tools and programmes while also providing information related to Covid-19 from authentic sources and opening avenues to collaborate. Titled, ‘Supporting Education Communities: An Online Learning Resources Guide’; this Facebook guide currently is available in English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and Kannada.
LinkedIn for work from home professionals
If you, like us, are working from home since almost a month; this update is a welcome change to the daily routine. Remote work is the new normal, all of us are trying to navigate this change of wanting to work from home for a day to wondering when will this end.
To help sail through this lockdown, LinkedIn has introduced a series of free learning paths which will help professionals to upskill, small businesses to understand the changing economy, educators to aid their online learning process, learn to manage stress and mindfulness and how to remain productive and efficient at ‘work from home’.
Twitter Chats keeping the conversations ON
There is no new concept to Twitter Chats. They have been a part of brand strategies, personal networking, professional tie-ups, engagement builder for a long time. So why do we mention them now among the top 5 updates?
Reason: our screen-time has probably doubled in the past few weeks. We are constantly looking for conversations, quick updates, avenues to keep ourselves busy (like reading this blog!); etc. Twitter Chats are the perfect breather from a long day at work from home. You log-out from work, only to log-in to have conversations with complete strangers about things you like, about your challenges, about helping each other out in these trying times.
Some of the chats that our team participates in on a regular basis are:
- #StartupChats by Startup Canada: a weekly chat that starts 10pm IST on Fridays and it’s all about entrepreneurship and scaling up your business.
- #SayftyChat, every Monday, 8.30pm IST – it’s for everyone who wants to be a part of women and child empowerment. Their discussions are very fruitful and backed with good research.
- #SEMrushChat, every Wednesday, 9.30pm IST – a gem for all the digital marketers
- #TacoChat, 12.30am IST, Tuesday – they start with your favorite tacos!
- #BizHeroes, every Tuesday, 12.30am IST by paper.li – they talk about content marketing, strategy, brand building and much more!
- #LuxTravelChat, 10pm IST on Thursdays – as of late they have been supporting the community and talking about Quarantimes. But their conversations dabbles between luxury and travel – an escape we all are looking forward to (albeit, virtually.)
- #TwitterSmarter – our social media lead’s favorite chat of all. All about digital marketing and learning the traits of Twitter with Mandalyn; Thursdays, 10.30pm IST.
Thank You Hour on Instagram
Stories collection by Instagram under ‘Thank You Hour’ sticker is a definite break from all the clutter. Every evening at 7pm (your standard time), Instagram shows the collection of stories by individuals or brands who have used the thank you sticker to show their appreciation to someone or something during this lockdown.
So this is how we are looking at social media with a different lens during pandemic. How about you? Tell us in the comments section or tweet to us at @pixelatedegg.