Social Networking -- Thing #12

Okay, here's the deal.....I don't mind social networking. I like connecting to others online, creating discussion threads, seeing what others are doing, and having a place to "belong." Those who don't "like" it may not understand it or don't realize how important it has become to the younger generation. This is THE way young people stay in touch with each other. I wish Facebook had been around when I was in college and I might not have lost touch with some of my friends.

As educators, we need to know how this stuff works so we don't lose site of where the future is headed. The children in our homes and the students in our schools use these sites and we should be informed about what is out there that might or might not be good for them socially and emotionally.

Personally, I don't care for Myspace or Facebook. Maybe because they seem to be aimed at a younger population, and some of it comes from all the ads that you deal with on Myspace.

My daughter has a Myspace account, but we have many privacy blocks on the account and all traffic comes through my email address. I have her login/password and check it frequently. For her, it has been a way to keep in touch with her friends after we moved away. I have a page as well, but don't care to deal with the hassle of working on it. My daughter had to show me how to change the background and load pictures. I'm usually pretty good at that stuff, but I was tired and didn't want to fight with it. She was a much faster resource.

I signed up for Facebook as well, but don't think I will use it either. I played around with it, liked it better than Myspace, but don't have any "friends" that I can find. Bummer!

Which leads me to Ning! I LOVE IT! First, I have friends -- the librarians of Mesquite. Second, it was easier to work around and I like the layout. I can see using it at school. Setting up a group for my teachers and letting them use it to open discussions. It's much easier to put those groups together and even have sub-groups like the Elementary Librarians group Mary set up. I may work on this for next year. We could have grade level groups or subject groups. I think it would work well if the district filters will allow us to get on at school.