Thing #18

Social networking sites have become amazingly popular in the past few years. It seems like everyone has a Facebook or a Myspace page. I have had a facebook page for quite some time now. I use it frequently to connect with old friends and make new ones. I think that it is important for future educators to understand how Facebook or Myspace works, because their students will certainly be using it.

I prefer to use Facebook because I feel that it has more security options. No one can view my profile unless they are my friend - and I only add people I know to be my friends. You can upload tons of pictures, videos and whatever else you can think to share with all of your friends. I also like all the little games and apps that are available in Facebook.

However, I cannot see a classroom or school application for social networking. At least not at the elementary or secondary level (maybe there could be a use at the college level). The potential for abuse by teachers is simply too great. When students are in the walls of a school, there are ways to control and monitor what is happening - and sometimes things still go awry. However, in the social networking world, the potential for the misuse of teacher authority is amplified many times.

This goes back to one of my original statements - that educators should have a working knowledge of what social networking is, and how it works. The biggest role I see educators playing in the future is to give guidance and advice on how to protect oneself in the world. I remember a guest speaker once who visited our high school to talk about how to watch your surroundings and take precautions protect yourself when you were alone. I think that, now, educators should provide similar advice to students on how to protect themselves on these social networking sites.

What do you think? Am I overreacting? Are these sites safer than I think? Or is the potential for misuse even greater than I suspect?