Although the first recognizable social networking site was launched in 1997, there have been many new social networking sites come and go in the past 25 years. Today, there are hundreds of social network sites that have attracted millions of people from all over the world. A social network site is a type of website where user can create profiles of themselves that they can share with other within the same website. The primary goal of social network sites such as facebook is to “enable users to articulate and make visible their social networks” (Boyd and Ellison, 2007).
I have been a part of the social network of Facebook for about four years now. I have about 120 “Friends” that I can communicate with synchronously or a synchronously from anywhere in the world at anytime of the day. I can share information with the whole group or specific individuals. It has been a great tool for me to keep in contact with many friends I went to school with, more than 25 years ago in Ontario. As I use my Facebook account to continue and support relationships I have made f2f, researchers point out that “most SNSs primarily support pre-existing social relations (Boyd and Ellison, 2007).
As a f2f classroom teacher, I do not become “Friends” with students or parents on my personal Facebook page because I do not wish to share everything of my personal life with the students I teach and their parents. If, on the other hand, I could create a closed social network environment, like Facebook, that would only allow me to communicate with my students and their parents on matters related to the classroom, I would be open to creating a social network for my classroom. I’m very interested in creating Edmodo (http://www.edmodo.com) social network environment for my class. This social network claims to help “connect all learners with the people and resources needed to reach their full potential”. As I work grade five students, I will need to check with school district administrative officers. The primary goal of creating this type of social network site would be to allow students to keep in touch with each other and support the learning community they are part of (Kear 2010).
Boyd, d. m., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html.
Kear, K. (2011). Online and social networking communities: A best practrice guide for educators . Ney York, NY: Routledge Taylor and Fracis Group.
I have been a part of the social network of Facebook for about four years now. I have about 120 “Friends” that I can communicate with synchronously or a synchronously from anywhere in the world at anytime of the day. I can share information with the whole group or specific individuals. It has been a great tool for me to keep in contact with many friends I went to school with, more than 25 years ago in Ontario. As I use my Facebook account to continue and support relationships I have made f2f, researchers point out that “most SNSs primarily support pre-existing social relations (Boyd and Ellison, 2007).
As a f2f classroom teacher, I do not become “Friends” with students or parents on my personal Facebook page because I do not wish to share everything of my personal life with the students I teach and their parents. If, on the other hand, I could create a closed social network environment, like Facebook, that would only allow me to communicate with my students and their parents on matters related to the classroom, I would be open to creating a social network for my classroom. I’m very interested in creating Edmodo (http://www.edmodo.com) social network environment for my class. This social network claims to help “connect all learners with the people and resources needed to reach their full potential”. As I work grade five students, I will need to check with school district administrative officers. The primary goal of creating this type of social network site would be to allow students to keep in touch with each other and support the learning community they are part of (Kear 2010).
Boyd, d. m., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html.
Kear, K. (2011). Online and social networking communities: A best practrice guide for educators . Ney York, NY: Routledge Taylor and Fracis Group.