Thing 18

Thing 18:  Social Networking

     The challenge presented was to take some time to review MySpace and Facebook in an effort to gain an understanding of their application within education.  Due to the popularity of Facebook with some of my friends, I decided to create a profile under Rawls.  Personally, I was a little uncomfortable in partaking in this exercise as I really do not have any interest in utilizing either site.  I am a private person to begin with, but I certainly do not want to be judged on the actions of others that I may be connected to.  I did spend time exploring both to gain a better understanding of how each are currently being utilized as I feel that it is important to stay abreast of technological advances to best relate to students and other educators, especially since social networking is becoming increasingly popular in today's business community.

     In reviewing both sites, I can quickly tell why Facebook has been described as a more mature site, due to its professional/uniform layout.  MySpace operates in more of an HTML format with a wide variety of customization options; although the individual profiles are more captivating, it makes navigation a little more challenging due to the inconsistencies in the layout.  Both sites offer a wide variety of options and customizations, but I feel that Facebook offered a more cohesive product overall. 

     I can certainly see Facebook as being a good site for maintaining a school page as it would allow parents an opportunity to stay abreast of school activities and to connect with other parents.  Additionally, students/alumni are able to maintain contact with friends of the past.  With regards to the classroom, the only use I could envision for social sites would be to reach out to other professional for best practices or to elaborate on resources within a computer or business class.