Other Places We Can Connect

I receive a healthy amount of requests on my personal Facebook account every week. I decline most of them because I like to keep my personal Facebook account for interactions with family and friends that I've interacted with in person in some significant way (working together, going to school together, sharing meals, etc). But there are other places where I am happy to connect with you.

We can connect on Twitter. I post there almost every hour of the day. I'm most active during the day (Eastern Time).

I'm on Instagram. I mostly post pictures of my dogs, my daughter, and trees.

I'm on LinkedIn. I update that sporadically.

The Free Technology for Teachers Facebook page is updated a few times a day.

My YouTube channel has more than 400 ed tech tutorial videos.

If you want fewer updates from me, the Practical Ed Tech newsletter is sent out just once per week on Sunday evenings.

I also have a few Pinterest boards that I try to update when I remember to do so.

Finally, you can always send me an email at richardbyrne (at) freetech4teachers.com 

Meritful - A Network Connecting Students with Mentors

Meritful is a new network that aims to help students connect with mentors. On Meritful students will be able to find mentors who can advise them on their resumes, applications, and portfolios. Students can also ask mentors questions about the career fields that they are interested in. Students and mentors gain merit points for expanding their networks and for answering questions.

Applications for Education

The concept behind Meritful is good, but I want to see some more privacy controls put in place before I can recommend it for use in high schools. I was able to create both student and mentor accounts without having to enter any questions about my status as a student or mentor. The only question that I had to answer as a mentor was, "are you affiliated with a school and which one?" There wasn't a requirement to have an email address issued by that school or any other affiliation verification.

College students may be interested in connecting with each other and with mentors to help them prepare for job interviews. Meritful is kind of like LinkedIn for college students.

How We Can Connect

Thankfully, writing this blog has brought me opportunities to connect with wonderful people all over the world. If you would like to connect there are five places that I am now active outside of my blog.

Twitter: You can find me at twitter.com/rmbyrne where I post a mix of posts from here, interesting things I find online, and occasionally post some non-sequiturs about whatever strikes my fancy. I try my best to reply to @messages, but I don't always see them.

Facebook: I have a Free Technology for Teachers Facebook page which is viewable by anyone. I generally don't accept friend requests from anyone that I have not met in person and or worked with in some capacity. I use my personal Facebook account for keeping up with close friends and family.

Pinterest: This week I decided to start using Pinterest. So far I've started building this board and will create more in the future.

LinkedIn: I'll accept just about any connection request, you can find my profile here. However, I'll only be a reference for you if I have actually worked with you. I think that's only fair to the referral aspect of LinkedIn.

Google+: This is where I'm least active, but if I do occasionally post things that aren't from my blog on my Google+ page.

How You Can Connect With Me

From time to time I like to post this information for people who have recently started following Free Technology for Teachers. If you're interested in connecting with me outside of this blog here are the places that we can connect.

Twitter
Google+
LinkedIn 
Facebook page for the blog - I generally don't accept friend requests on my personal account from people that I haven't met in person or virtually worked with in some capacity.

Of course, you can also get in touch with me in two old-fashioned ways email and phone.
Email: richardbyrne (at) freetech4teachers (dot) com
Phone (Google Voice): 1-207-619-3291