Twitter

Twitter in my opinion is one of the better social sites available because you can connect politically and socially. Having a discussion on Twitter perhaps isn't the best place though, when you have outlets like Blackboard and plain old in-class. The discussion that CIS 3810 had under the hashtag #3810NET2 was a lot more complicated to follow than it should have been. Twitter only has room for 140 characters, which is not enough especially when you're discussing an article that is 2 pages long. Hashtags also count as characters so it's either your tweet gets lost or never found in the commotion or you sacrifice a few letters. On the other hand, Blackboard discussions allow for as many characters as you wish, not to forget they come with spell check, which is a bonus for school activities! The most convenient part of Blackboard discussions it that each topic can have its own forum and each contributor can write their own corresponding thread. But on Twitter in order to follow what is being said you must "Discover" the hashtag and read through the tweets, which isn't the easiest. 

Twitter and Blackboard aside there are also classic in-class discussions. In-class discussions have everything that these two sites don't. They have emotion, passion and conflict. Typing how one feels does not come nearly as close to actually saying it out loud. A great example of this is during the #3810NET2 discussion one of my classmates posted a tweet with sarcasm intended and another classmate reading the tweet did not catch on to the sarcasm. My point exactly! Writing how you feel is the best way to misinterpret the point actually trying to be expressed. The only disadvantage I find with in-class discussions is that with all the passion being expressed not everyone has the opportunity to share their ideas. I'm sure we've all be a part of a discussion where everyone seems to have something to say and gathering your own thoughts to participate gets complicated. Not everyone is able to come up with an idea or opinion on the spot and being able to take time away from everyone and actually write how you feel can help. Personally, I appreciate the traditional in-class discussions overall.