Thing #22 Social Networking

It took a long time for friends to convince me to join a social network but I've been a heavy user now for about a year and a half. Or is it two and a half years? Of course when I did set up my Facebook page, I found out my father and great uncle had beat me to it. Sheesh...

Educators need to know how social networking functions so they can both utilize it for educational purposes and so they can help students avoid pitfalls. Students definitely need to be taught about the consequences that can occur if they aren't careful about what they post.

I first started my MySpace profile under duress so I could see my friend's profile. I was never really interested in it and haven't been on it in so long that I had to reset my password to get back in it tonight. I didn't like how anyone with a MySpace account could see my profile and it didn't easily connect me to friends. I did like how you could link a song to your profile and have it playing when it opened. Of course, you could only use music that had been uploaded to MySpace by the creators.

Facebook has been a very different experience. It was so easy to find current friends and old friends. I feel so much more connected to family and friends that I can't see often. Seeing the pictures and hearing about funny or even sad everyday events makes me feel like I'm part of their lives. I primarily use Facebook for posting and viewing updates and pictures. For awhile I was into games like Scrabble.

I used Facebook for an educational application last summer for a class I took. I took a 2 week field geology class through Texas A&M. Since the participants were located all over Texas, the professors used a Facebook Group to prepare us for the class. We had to meet each other and select roommates through Facebook. We also got assignments and other information from the Facebook Group. It was our main method of communication for the class and it worked very well. My only problem was that the building I was working in at the time blocked Facebook and I wasn't able to override the block at that time. Since I was going to be creating virtual geology field trips to use for work, I needed to do some work ahead of time from the office to coordinate the projects. Not being able to log in from work made this more difficult.