SlideShare is a service which allows the users to upload their own slide shows. The presentation can be shared with all users free-of-charge or with a private group by using the paid version. Similar services online are SlideBoom and SlideServe.
As a user of the service, you can utilize the slide shows that others have openly shared – an unparalleled aid for a teacher. Similarly, by uploading your own slide show to the service, you can reach a wider audience than just your own students. Using this service to share content is also wise in the sense that the students do not need PowerPoint software to see them – a browser is enough to view the slides. The SlideShare presentations can also be embedded in your blog or on a Facebook page.
It’s easy to learn to use the service through the aid of a guide or video.
The purpose of SlideShare – as with other online sharing services – is to increase not only the free distribution of content, but interaction between the users as well. The service makes it possible to recommend the slide shows you feel are useful, and it offers great statistical information on recommendations, comments, hits and embedding.
In principle, the service functions the same way as blogs and video-sharing do. The more you produce content yourself and comment on other people’s material, the more interesting the activity becomes. The thinking behind all social media services is to increase interactivity. It is therefore important to figure out for yourself – and make it clear to your students too – what the correct ways to converse online are and how the conversation differs from face-to-face situations. The most crucial difference is that the conversation occurs mostly in writing online. Next week, we’ll start the second leg of the journey by looking into what it means to write online.
SlideShare has plenty of interesting slide shows available on the topic of social media. I suggest you look at these three, but the service helps you find whatever is most important to you.