The Franklinton Rotary Club was brought up to speed on social media and new technology through a presentation by made recently by Jackie Jenkins.

Darrell Fairburn, Washington Parish School System superintendent and a Rotarian, introduced Jenkins, the system’s curriculum coordinator.

Jenkins presented Rotary members with a handout on social media sites and a how-to guide on PowerPoint 2010. She said her presentation for the day was created on Prezi, a twist on PowerPoint available through a free signup at prezi.com.

Also discussing several other social media sites, Jenkins focused on the two most popular, Facebook and Twitter. When thinking about social media, she said users need to ask themselves three questions: Are they social, what is the right tool for them, and do they have at least two hours a week to spend on the site?

She said all the social media sites are free to join and allow for online conversation and networking.

Jenkins also used a Ziggi document camera to demonstrate how the sites work. With the images displayed on a projector screen, she pulled up her Facebook page on her phone and then used Fairburn’s phone to show his Twitter account.

Facebook allows people to connect with coworkers and friends and is a way to keep in touch with former classmates from school, Jenkins said. Businesses and organizations often create pages as well, she said.

Facebook users create a timeline when they join, and the site has many privacy controls, unlike Twitter.

Twitter allows for short posts of 140 characters or less called Tweets. Users will create a handle that will identify them on the site, and they can use hashtags in their posts to create searchable terms, Jenkins said.

When the site first launched, a number of users posted about things like what they ate for lunch, she said.

“You have to be careful that you’re posting quality information that people do want to read and keep up with,” she said.