I cringe when people comment that "they don't want to know what I had for breakfast" for two reasons - one, not very many people do that on a continuous basis, and two, sometimes this is exactly what people want to read. Alec reshared a powerful video and made the simple comment that indeed, sometimes what people share is important to that person, or it gives better insight into the lives of someone we may not have considered. While the story is in doubt (here, here) the message is in and of itself, useful - we have to care about other people and what they say, and sometimes this occurs over a technological medium rather than a physical one. Thus, I will sometimes simply share "what's going on" in the form of a sentence, a picture, or a link, and I appreciate my friends and colleagues doing the same (in moderation, of course!).
As Dean Shareski points out in his video Sharing: The Moral Imperative, sharing is part of (or all of?) teaching. It is so important to share what we're doing, what we're thinking, and how it's working so that someone else can possibly benefit from this. The small tidbits of information I get from my daily foray into Twitter with a morning coffee may not have been intended to be anything other than "stuff" by the sharer. For me, an image, an idea, a sentence could send my mind racing towards a fantastic lesson or a great thought on life that I can also re-share.
Which brings me to the tools that can be used to share. The best tool that I have found for sharing has been my iPhone - always on me, available, and able to capture many media types. I can quickly read an interesting blog post on Feedly, hit the share button, and have it appear on Twitter with a short comment. I can send pictures to Facebook or Instagram in 3 taps. It didn't used to be this way, however. Companies have made a conscious shift towards making their content easier to share - everything from run times to what you're cooking for dinner to what your current heartrate is can now be quickly shared.
I also utilize Flipboard as a sharing application, usually in the evenings, when I'm reading through the various tech and education blog and news reports. Similar to Feedly, Flipboard has allowed me to send quick emails or share to Twitter without interrupting the flow of what I'm doing.
Some people comment on the negative aspects of sharing - when I'm in a keynote I spend some of the time tweeting important points of images, which is quickly perceived by some as rude. If approached at an appropriate time I attempt to explain that there has been many a keynote that I got to follow because of dedicated Tweeters and how I was better for it. Some understand, some don't, but I think we're slowly making the shift.
I was on a recent camping trip and utilized my phone for some fantastic scenery shots. Some students complained that I should be looking at the scenery rather than taking pictures of of and using my phone (I suspect they'd heard this a few times themselves...). I attempted to explain that I wanted to include their other teachers, and my personal friends, in what I was seeing so they could "be there" or at least comment on it later. I know I enjoy it when I am "included" in an outing via a digital medium and can chat with the person about this outing the next day, so attempt to return the favour.
I need to share more and will attempt to hit that easy-to-access "reshare" button on a more regular basis. I will always include my thoughts or an interesting comment to go along with these posts in order to differentiate myself from the mindless link-tweeting robots. I will also continue to take advantage of all the sharing that occurs in my life by packaging, considering, repacking and resharing what I see, hear and read.