Learning about social media at the Whitecourt Public Library

 

 

The Whitecourt & District Public Library offers the community a diverse number of classes and programs in a variety of different subjects. Events are almost always free, aside from an occasional nominal refundable deposit on certain classes, and they all provide valuable information and insight.

On Thursday, November 2, as part of a series of classes on computers, a group of citizens came together to learn about social media. Library Director Richard Bangma led the class which included a laptop for each attendee to utilize and a projection screen at the front of the room to show a close view of each point, Richard explained.

“Tonight’s class was about Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, all three of which are social media programs online. I’m introducing social media to people who either use it a little bit, have never used it all, or people who have used it but don’t really understand it or aren’t comfortable with it,” said Richard.

Sometimes people sign up for a certain site and then get bombarded by notifications which can be overwhelming especially if the user doesn’t know how to stop it. “We talk about settings, security, and privacy as well as how to do postings in Facebook, how to tweet in Twitter, and how to create pins in Pinterest.”

One of the class attendees, Carl Vanhoek, said he appreciated the opportunity to learn about social media. “I’m trying to catch up on things that are going on,” adding that learning about it on his own is “too complicated.” The classroom-like setting gives the opportunity to ask questions and be as inquisitive as necessary.

“The laptop lab that we have is from the Yellowhead Regional Library. They have loaned us 10 laptops and we have them for one month,” said Richard. Throughout the month, the Whitecourt Library will be offering more computer classes on topics such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Computer classes take place for several weeks at a time and usually happen twice a year.

“If you have more computer or social media questions, you can come to the library and we will sit down with you and help you,” said Richard. For more information on upcoming classes or to sign up for one of the November computer classes stop in at the library or call 780-778-2900.