Thing 22

My experiences with Facebook and Myspace are as follows: 1) I succumb to peer pressure and set up a page 2) I get really excited and spend time setting things up, posting pictures, choosing songs and wallpaper, etc. 3) I become overwhelmed with the number of friend requests from people I went to school with 4) I get behind on responses to posts and start to feel guilty 5) I quit going to my page and eventually forget my user name and password. The last step is why I am not including a link to either of my social networking pages; I can't figure out how to get into them at this point.

I think there are pros and cons to these sites. They are a great way to reconnect with old friends and to get the satisfaction of ongoing feedback and communication. However, I watched my roommate maintain "virtual" friendships that were nothing but superficial while avoiding real relationships. I also think that the act of un-friending people has consequences for both parties involved in the "friendship". None of these consequences are good.

I think educators have to be knowledgeable about networking sites because many of our students inhabit that world. It is a way for us to stay in tune with what our students experience and perceive in their worlds. I think there are classroom applications if classroom pages are set up or if teachers had official school related pages that students could access.