"Facebook is for OLD people!" - Dad

I am a connected educator.  I am on Facebook. I get messages from parents. I make comments and "like" people's pictures. I even have teachers on my "friends" list. I am connected...

Right?

My dad called me a few weeks ago to talk about all things Facebook. You know... recipes, who was playing the candy game, pictures of so and so's baby, dog, and selfie in the bathroom mirror. Then he tells me that he heard on the news that Facebook was for old people. After I composed myself from listening to Dad's "report", we finished gossiping talking, and I started to think...

What channel was he watching? (I have to be careful asking that because I do have a memory of coming home from school and Dad was watching a Snoop Dog concert on MTV Spring Break - I still haven't figured that one out!) I also wanted to know what is considered old? Dad? The man who gets upset if his morning ritual of coffee and computer gets disturbed. The man who gets his cup of coffee, not from the Keurig we bought him, but from the percolator that he has had for years.

Maybe it was not Dad who was being "old"? Maybe it was me? After all, Dad was the one who was using Facebook to talk to friends and family in other places. He was the one sharing things and probably mostly salivating over a few recipes.  I was the one using the same "old" ways of communicating with parents, students, and other educators.
I decided that my "connectedness" was no better than the traditional paper and pencil log home to parents and that I was just "liking" my teacher friends' pictures. Don't get me wrong, Facebook is a valuable social network. It is a great way to stay in touch with parents of students, colleagues, AND friends. I stalk it use it on a daily basis.  For myself, I wanted to look for a better way to truly extend my professional learning community. I needed a way to not just think outside the box, but actually GET outside the box.
There was only one answer... Twitter!

Stay tuned, or should I say, stay connected.