Socially draining.

Have been gathering my thoughts for an upcoming class that i'm teaching on Social Media. The course director was confused when I told her I would not have her course outline until a few weeks before the class. To convince her that I am not a bad procrastinator, I explained how volatile Social information is these days. Whatever we know in a few months will likely be different than what we know today.

New apps. New spaces. Heck, even new platforms coming online faster and faster. Additionally, well-established spaces can vanish quicker than you can say myspace. So what is a media student, like myself, do to stay current? I believe it is actually simple.
1. You can't know it all. Don't try. You will leave your fingerprints on your keyboard and go to bed frustrated every night.
2. Practice. Being 'in-the-realm' is the best way to stay current. If you want to know twitter, tweet. And read tweets. Don't just collect followers, use them as educational streams. Have lots of friends in Facebook. This will keep you current on how people act in our virtual communities.
3. Read everything you can. The world's content is free and as close as your nearest net connection.

The last thing I would try to author is a comprehensive primer on Social Media. But I practice those 3 things and it keeps me as current as I would like to be. I failed at #1 for some time and would get really irritated when I ran across something I should have known but didn't. Then I realized, these new mediums can make my life and career better. So I try new things, I use the ones that add value to my day and concede the rest to others. Then I try to get some sleep.