Thing #18

I have both a Facebook and a MySpace account. I have had them both since I was an undergrad. For several years, I worked as a camp staffer and many of the friends (other staff members, adult sponsors, etc.) I made are from different states across the country. I had a friend who moved to Mexico and another who is moving to England in the near future. Those people are the reason I keep accounts with these social networking sites. It is not always easy to catch a person on the telephone these days. I, personally, do not like talking on the phone anyways. It is much easier, for me personally, to keep in touch with others through MySpace and Facebook. Even if I don't get a chance to send / receive a message from my friends, I can still see what's going on in their lives through reading their blogs and keeping up on pictures they post. I keep my page private and only add people that I know.
I feel it is important for educators to know how social networking sites work because it helps to keep us "in the know." If we are at least knowledgeable (and I'm not saying one has to have an account) of how social networking works, we are able to make that much more of a connection with students. There are many things that we can find to talk about with a student, but at least knowing about how this works would give us one more chance to connect. I had a student last year who I had absolutely nothing in common with, but he talked about MySpace and how his parents allowed him to connect with his family from another state. I was able to talk to this child in a new way because I knew what he was talking about. The conversation consisted of more relating rather than him telling me how something worked.
I do not really like either site, but I like to stay connected with my peers, friends, and family. The ability to reach others who I may have lost contact with is a good feature. I don't like that Facebook pushes friends onto you by making friend suggestions. I find that Facebook, however, gives more options on reaching people. I can search by state, school, and by name if I am looking for a particular person. I have recently gotten in touch with several different friends from high school and old church groups by searching for them on Facebook. It's nice to be able to connect with those people again.
No matter how much I may like or dislike one site or the other, this is something I will never use in the classroom or any type of assignment. I find that this is a personal tool that I use but will never recommend to a student. There is too much that a student could get into that I would be held accountable for if I were to allow that student to get on one of the sites. After all, if I recommend something to a student for an assignment and they choose to use it on their own time and get into some trouble (no matter what it may be), a parent is still going to want to know why I recommended it to their child. It is better to play it safe with social networking sites.