Module 9 - Networks on the Web, Social and Professional

Social Networking is an issue I often find myself conflicted about. While I am a lover of Facebook and Twitter to keep in the loop with news of my friends and selected celebrities, I worry that are social networks replacing our personal human contact networks? Jimmy Kimmel, the US comedian, is front lining a campaign to defined people on Facebook, suggesting we delete people on our friend network who we would not interact with in everyday life. Statistics suggest we can calculate the number of real friends we have by dividing our Facebook friends by 11. I like to think that if I passed a Facebook friend in the street I would at least say hi. I also love that I can keep in contact with family and friends around the world through this medium. The issue of children using Facebook is a real bug bear of mine. Last year 90 per cent of my Year 6 students had Facebook accounts, and judging by the content of their profile pages, many of them were unmonitored by their parents. While social networking can be a powerful communication tool, it can be just another way of getting to someone. As teachers, we need to be aware our students are on these sites and the content and information they share is not always appropriate.