I have a very dear friend, who shall remain nameless, with whom I have a disagreement that arises every now and then. The argument? Namely - Facebook! Now my friend would argue that this is a dangerous place to "be" in the cyberworld - predators, mean people, ugliness, you name it - he thinks it's there. While visiting his home a few weeks ago, I introduced he and his wife to Facebook. And the reason you ask? To find his friend! He had lost touch with a friend from the past and wanted to see if they were on Facebook so that he could make contact again! Well, his friend wasn't there, but his friend's daughter was, and so the social connection was established. I contacted daughter ---> who contacted dad ---> who contacted me ---> who gave information back to my friend! Ahah! The epitomy of a social network!
Work applications for Facebook? Oh my - I have met so many prinicipals and educational leaders, found friends who have the same position I hold in a far away place, have been able to follow the legislature and educational PACs, all from Facebook! So many times, especially in a place of leadership, we feel very lonely, unconnected and often time disassociated from people because there is only one of us in a building - this has been solved through social networking.
Now, as educators, I would argue that we MUST "be" on these networks. There are some bad things that go on with our kids on these networks, but as "friends" on the network, we can monitor so much and discover so much about our kids - it is our responsibility as parents and teachers to help our students learn the safety and caution that is needed in these enviornments!
I've had an account for a while, so here is the link to my profile. I'm not sure you can see me unless I'm your friend - so invite me to be your friend... Vikingman, I'll be waiting!
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As usual, you have written an informative and thought provoking post.I agree with you about teaching our kids the safety precautions...just as we teach them to look both ways before they cross the street. It's just that we hear in the media all the horror stories about kids contacted and worse by people they had met on Facebook or MySpace.
ReplyDeleteI am not the friend you refer to, but I will admit to looking down my nose when people talk about their Facebook accounts. I hear people talking about playing Scrabble and posting what they're doing for the weekend.Not exactly my idea of a great use of time... to me anyway. My secretary was telling me the other day about how important it was to get in touch with all the people you used to go to school with. I'm still not sure about that one...if I had wanted to stay in touch, wouldn't I have? But you brought up staying in contact with principals and other people in your professional life...maybe I'll give it a chance and quit feeling so superior.