Social networking, such as Facebook and MySpace, is the creation of online communities of people who can interact through e-mail and messaging services. Users can find "friends" based on common interests or by searching categories, such as a user's high school or college. Members of social networking sites can create profiles, showcasing photos and videos, personal interests, hobbies, and even personal contact information. Social networking has an array of pros and cons. On the positive side, social networking gives people the opportunity to stay in touch with people that they may not otherwise have contact with. It is also a great outlet to meet new and interesting people, if you are trusting of the people you meet online. That leads me into the negatives of social networking sites. How can you trust the new people you meet? I may be pessimistic, but we don't live in a particularly trustworthy society, especially in this world of the Internet. I would much rather meet a person face to face, and get to know them in a public setting, rather than behind the screen of a computer. I like to view social network sites as a way to stay in touch with old friends, rather than meeting new ones.
Social networking sites, as they are designed today, have no place in education. There isn't enough security available on social networking sites today to make them a safe place for young students to explore. I would love to see an educational based social networking site where teachers or administrators have the ability to control who becomes a member. If only the students at my school could become members, and the messaging and profile content could be controlled, I can see this as a being a positive way for students to meet each other and make new friends. Until then, I do not see social networking sites as being beneficial in the world of education.
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2 comments:
Natalie, I too wish that using social networking with kids was more useful in the classroom. It is such a powerful tool and has great potential. It would be great if MySpace or FaceBook took some hints from Gaggle and set up some accounts for schools in that manner.
I just learned about a new social networking site called ning. I had never heard about it until I checked out the flat classroom project-see my blog for more info if you are interested.
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